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1194972

GENEALOGY COLLECTION

SOUTHEASTERN
NEW YORK

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SOUTHEASTERN
NEW YORK

A History of the Counties of

ULSTER, DUTCHESS, ORANGE, ROCKLAND AND

PUTNAM

Compiled and Edited by

Louise Hasbrouck Zimm Joseph W. Emsley

Rev. A. Elwood Corning Willitt C. Jewell

Volume II

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, Inc.

NEW YORK

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, Inc.

1946

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11 94972

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Southeastern New York

Orange County

Bv Rev. A. Elwood Corning

S.E.N.Y.— 29

CHAPTER I

Topography

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CHAPTER I

Orange County is rich in historic background, and unsurpassed
in scenic beauty. Famed in legend and in story its sagas have
been delineated alike by poet, novelist and artist, many of whom
have sought and found domiciles within its domain. Henry Hud¬
son, in 1609, sailing on the river destined to bear his name, was
impressed with the eastern frontage of the county yet to be desig¬
nated. as Orange, and entered in his Journal on his return down
the river as the “Half-Moon’’ lay for three days at anchor in New¬
burgh Bay: “This is a very pleasant place to build a town on.
The road (i. e., roadstead, meaning a moorage for ships off-shore)
is very near and very good for all winds, save an east, northeast
wind.”

In indicating especially this region immediately north of the
Highlands of the Hudson River as a pleasant place for home build¬
ers, Henry Hudson has been dubbed the county’s first real estate
promoter. Strangely, only a short distance to the south, and in
sight of the location which caught the fancy of the English naviga¬
tor in the service of the Dutch East India Company (on the banks
of the Moodna, or Murderer’s Creek, to use its former appellation)
the first white settlement was made, 1684, only a year after the
original county was created under the Act of November 1, 1683,
which divided the Province of New York “into shires and
counties.”

Another initial word may be recorded here before we plunge
into the main body of our narrative, and take up the story of
Orange County in its numerous divisions and subdivisions as
outlined in its essentially distinct aspects. We refer to the origin
of its name which was given in recognition of the Prince of Orange,

454

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

William, a Hollander, who it is said never even pretended to like
England, but who with his wife, Mary, became her joint Sovereign,
as William III, in 1689.

The physical features of the county under consideration have
attracted the eye of the visitor as well as of the native. Glowing
and realistic accounts of its topography are extant. Protected by
mountain ranges, rising to precipitous heights in two diametrically
opposite ends of the county, with uneven uplands through the cen¬
ter, crowned here and there by sharp and segregated hills, and with
streams interfused through verdant valleys, the county is washed
by the shore line of the Hudson on its eastern border, and by the
waters of the Delaware on its western extremity.

From the neighborhood of the Delaware extending northeast
is the Shawangunk range. Few inland sights are more beautiful
than the vistas gleaned from vantage points connected with this
chain of hills. Old World travelers marvel at the variegated hues
of American landscapes in autumn. They are unprepared for
them. Perhaps of few mountainous regions can it be said that
the land is so even on its eastern slope that cultivation may be
maintained to the summit. Legends of the Shawangunk abound.
When, in the old days, unprotected in large measure from sudden
invasion at the hand of the red man, except by forts, which stood
in the majority of cases distances apart, the scattered inhabitants
of the region, then located on the outskirts of civilization, expe¬
rienced not infrequently sudden raids when the scalping-knife
brandished over its victims amidst the horrified screams of the
women and children who were compelled to stand by helpless.

In the southeastern section of the county are the Warwick, the
Bellvale and the Sterling mountains, with others of lesser promi¬
nence. Further to the northeast is the Schunemunk range which
has been characterized as “the high hills to the west of the High¬
lands.” This range at one time was the dividing line between the
Wawayanda and Cheesek-ook Patents, of which we will hear more
in detail later. The range, also, bore a conspicuous part in the
line of the celebrated Evans Patent.

There are any number of minor elevations which need not
detain us in so comparatively brief a study of the county, but will
readily come to mind by those who are familiar with their names

456

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

and legends. Some of them, however, will be mentioned in the
text when the locality in which they are situated is taken up.

Of all the elevations whose route transgresses the soil of
Orange County there is no more picturesque chain of mountains
than the Highlands, or High Lands, as they were written in cer¬
tain old documents. Truly named, one writer in a description of
a voyage up the Hudson in 1769, called them the “aspiring moun¬
tains.” Created during the glacial, or pleistocene period, in a
travail intense, the Highlands, covering approximately 140 square
miles, have wooed all nature lovers, quickened the imagination of
poets and writers, and inspired artists to portray them at their best.

Standing in the eastern portion of the county, and reflecting
their rugged sides into the waters of the river flowing at their base,
the more prominent of them are all over one thousand feet in alti¬
tude, and are divided by valleys of unequal depth. Not to resort
to obsolete derivations, at the northern gate looms “Boterberg,” or
as the Dutch named it, “Butter Hill,” because to them it resembled
a roll of butter. Taking as his guide a more atmospheric view of
the mountain within whose shadow he lived, Nathaniel Parker
Willis rechristened it Storm King, derived from the fact that it
served so often as a barometer; by this name it continues to be
known. Storm King reaches an altitude of 1,524 feet, but slopes
so pronouncedly on its northern shoulder as to be crossed by roads.

To the south of Storm King, the second highest crest of the
range within the immediate region we are covering is Cro’ Nest,
rising to a height of 1,418 feet. Its archaic Algonquin designation
written Navesing, denoted “a resort for birds.” It was this peak
which caught the poetic leaning of Joseph Rodman Drake, and
found its way into “The Culprit Fay,” when he sang,

“The moon looks down on old Cronest,

She mellows the shades on his shaggy breast.”

To complete the chain of the Highlands in Orange County is Bear
Mountain, with an elevation of 1,350 feet above the Hudson River.
Correctly speaking, the name is not bear, but bare, naked. Back of
this mountain to the north is Mount Independence, capped by what
remains of Fort Putnam ; below, to the south, are the sites of the
former Twin Forts, Montgomery and Clinton, of historic memory,

ORANGE COUNTY

457

and between them flow the waters of Popolopen Creek, which
empties into the Hudson. A fuller record of these forts, of Fort
Constitution, opposite West Point, and of Pollopel’s Island in the
Hudson across from Plum Point where the “chevaux-de-frise”
was laid, will be found in their proper sequence. To the south of
the sites of Forts Montgomery and Clinton the county line leaves
the Hudson River and approaches its southern boundary through
sundry lakes, over hills of various heights, and through ravines,
both wooded and under cultivation, all of which comprise the
county’s area of 838 square miles.

The streams of the county may be embraced under the several
captions of rivers, kills, and brooks, of which there are a great
number. The Wallkill River, which divides the central valley of the
county, enters its borders from New Jersey on the south near
Unionville and flows in a northeasterly direction until, passing out
of the county just north of Walden into Ulster County, it finally
empties into the Hudson River at Rondout. Near Warwick, how¬
ever, it is considerably wider because here is to be found a swampy
tract known as the Drowned Lands.

Other streams passing through or wholly included in the county
are the Neversink, the Otterkill, and the Ramapo. The first named
enters the county through Ulster and Sullivan counties, runs south
and southeast into the town of Deerpark, and south and southwest
near Cuddebackville, where it joins the Delaware near Carpenter’s
Point. It is said to be “a never failing stream.”

The Otterkill, named we are told from the otters which were
found in it by early settlers, rising in the north part of Chester
flows to the east of Goshen into Hamptonburg, where it once was
called Denn Creek, after Christopher Denn, one of the proprietors
of the Wawayanda Patent; through Hamptonburg it continues
on into Blooming Grove and Washingtonville, where its course
widens, to Salisbury Mills. Here, mingling with mountain ledges
it is roughly handled over rocks and crags until it falls into the lap
of the Hudson.

The Ramapo, while it has its source in Round Pond in Monroe,
is associated more with the adjacent county of Rockland ; it is fed,
however, before it leaves the county by the overflow of a number of
mountain ponds. Authorities on name derivations seem to be

45§

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

agreed that Ramapo denotes “place or country of the slanting
rock,” which would be notably applicable to the southern part of
the river in the county.

Of the many kills and streams and brooks in Orange County,
few of which we have the space even to mention, we find that many
were named originally for their individual owners, and played,
therefore, inconspicuous parts except in local parlance. Few locali¬
ties of the country, however, are more liberally provided with such
water facilities as are included in the county of Orange. There is
one creek, however, whose name has reached beyond the confines of
its immediate neighborhood and county, owing to the fact that the
name entered into the official documents of an early period. We
refer to Quassaick Creek. Its name means stony, and when we
recall that the Palatines, the southern boundary of whose tract of
land was marked by this creek, wrote of their place as “all uplands,”
we can readily see the significance of its derivation.

Many localities in Orange County have more or less large and
small ponds, some of which were never dignified with the name of
lake. We find in several communities large and small ponds ; some
of these have from time to time changed their names. For exam¬
ple, the name of the present. Orange Lake in the town of Newburgh
has been changed as many times as some men change their politics.
It covers about four hundred acres of land and was first known as
Moose Pond, then as Machin’s Pond, after Captain Thomas
Machin, of Revolutionary fame, who after the war settled in New¬
burgh, and in 1787 erected at Orange Lake a mint for the coinage
of copper provided the law gave him and his company the right to
coin money. Vermont, it appears, was the only State where coins
of this mill were in circulation. This sheet of water later was
known as Big Pond, finally assuming the name of Orange Lake,
which it still retains.

There is another so-called Big Pond in the town of Deerpark.
It is about a mile long and a half a mile wide. Long Pond, to use
its ancient name, is only partly in the county of Orange, its
remainder being in New Jersey. It is nine miles long and a mile
wide, and goes today by its present name of Greenwood Lake. Its
Orange County portion lies in the town of Warwick. Sterling
Lake also lies in the town of Warwick and covers an area of

ORANGE COUNTY

459

approximately sixty acres. There are a series of lakes in the
neighborhood of Monroe, very picturesque, which attract many
summer colonists. Their waters are cool and clear, being fed by
mountain springs. Many of the mountains in the county are
jeweled with limpid tarns to which the angler is drawn in the
summer season. The waters of Washington Lake in the town of
New Windsor pass through a filtering process and supply the city
of Newburgh with water.

Tri-States Rock, Port Jervis

Throughout the entire county of Orange its natural phenomena
are of interest because they are varied. Few counties have such an
abundance of good road-making material at hand ; there are lime¬
stone and sandstone, slate and shale, granite and gravel. Robert
Juet, mate on the “Half-Moon,” of which Henry Hudson was
master, and who recorded for Hudson the daily experiences and
observations of the trip up and down the river, wrote in their log¬
book, as they lay within the shadows of the Highlands, that “the
mountains look as if some metal or mineral were in them; for the

460

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

trees that grew on them were all blasted, and some of them barren
with few or no leaves on them.”

The visitors of 1609 were right; the primitive rocks of the
Highlands were replete with iron ore differentiated by specific
names, such as arsenical iron ore, red oxide of iron, titaniferous
iron ore and magnetic oxide of iron. Among the mines that have
been opened from the deposits known to exist may be named the
Sterling mine discovered in 1780 and opened the following year.
The ore from this mine is exceedingly strong and was used con¬
siderably for cannon. The mine extends over a surface of some
thirty acres ; to the east are the Mountain, Crossway and Patterson
mines. Then there is the Forest of Dean mine, opened as early as
1761. In the Shawangunk range are veins of lead; beds of lead
also have been opened at Edenville and in the towns of Deerpark
and Mount Hope, while tin, silver and even gold mines in the High¬
lands tradition affirms exist.

The geologic formations occurring in the county, according to
a report submitted by the State Geologist, and published in 1898,
“range in age from the Pre-Cambrian to the upper Devonian.”
We are informed also that nearly two-thirds of the county is
“underlaid by the Hudson River slates,” and that “the crystalline
rocks of the southeastern portion also cover a considerable area.”
It would be beyond the scope of this history to go into the various
formations in the several sections of the county. The above report
gives a list of fourteen formations prevalent in Orange County.

The climate of a county to a considerable degree determines its
productions. If near a large body of water, the moisture has an
effect upon the nature of the soil and the extent of its cultivation.
As we ascend the temperature diminishes, and the more gradual
the precipitous incline the slower the diminution of the atmosphere.
Heat and moisture then bear a prominent part, not only in the
climate of a region, but in the growth or retardation of flowering
and vegetable production. Take, for example, Newburgh, which is
in forty-one degrees, thirty minutes north latitude, and elevated
150 feet above tide water. Over a series of years the mean tem¬
perature has been found to be fifty degrees, ten minutes. Contrast
this with Goshen, some twenty odd miles to the southwest, which is
situated forty-one degrees, twenty minutes, and elevated 425 feet

ORANGE COUNTY

461

above tide water. Observations for eight years show a mean tem¬
perature of forty-nine degrees, sixteen minutes. Difference
between Newburgh and Goshen, therefore, is fifty-four minutes.

Of' course, there would be exceptions in the mountain districts
of the Highlands, where sundry coves and ravines are protected by
towering peaks, where the atmosphere is penetrable to heat which
is retained to a greater extent than in more exposed surfaces. The

(Courtesy of The Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands)
Dans Kammer, Above Newburgh on Hudson

warm volume of water drifting in from the ocean spreads a warm
vapor over the river shore; this tends to keep back the frosts of
autumn and lessens those of spring, when small fruits frequently
are injured, sometimes completely destroyed in the interior of the
county, and when winter still reposes upon the acme of the moun¬
tain ranges.

Taken generally, the county is famous for its agriculture, its
well-kept farms and extensive dairies. Perhaps no county of the

462

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

State has achieved a higher reputation for its butter, and the qual¬
ity of its milk for years has been rated of the highest in the New
York market. Formerly, each dairyman, having milked his cows,
would let the milk stand before taking it to the depot, some placing
the cans in cool springs of water. It used to be shipped by the
dairyman directly to the city daily; now he takes it to a creamery,
where it is prepared for market.

There are still many old houses in Orange County where one
may see a slave’s kitchen, with its rough hewn beams overhead, its
huge fireplace, and flagged floor, together with a dasher churn and
treadwheel operated generally by a dog much to his dislike. Not
infrequently the dog would be missing on churning days.

Perhaps dairy farming became extensive throughout Orange
County because the soil of the region produces excellent hay, due
to the fact that it being a slate country which is thinly covered with
drift, little else can be raised. In the northeastern portion, where
the ground is stony and hilly, the predominant crop is small fruits,
especially grapes.

Perhaps the richest soil in the county is to be found in the
swampy tracts ; such ground, immensely fertile, is valuable. Onions
and celery are the usual crops. There is said to be around forty
thousand acres of swamp land in Orange County. The most exten¬
sive of these areas is the Drowned Lands in the towns of War¬
wick, Greenville, Minisink, Wawayanda and Goshen, covering
seventeen thousand acres. In the middle quarter of the nineteenth
century this entire area was immersed under several feet of water
held in by a natural dam on the northern extremity. Cutting
through the dam reclaimed the land. Other swamp lands in the
county also have been drained. Greycourt meadows, covering five
hundred acres, extend, for example, from Craigsville to Chester.
So productive was such land that in the session of the Legislature
during the winter of 1799 a resolution was passed relative to drain¬
ing and improving Beaver Dam meadow in the town of New Wind¬
sor. At that time it was called the “Wild Meadows.”

We find that forty types of soil are mapped in Orange County,
and that they conform closely to the characteristics of the rocks
from which they are derived by glaciation. Farm lands have risen
steadily since the early days. Improved roads and automobiles

ORANGE COUNTY 463

have made all parts of the county accessible to markets and to
shipping points. This, together with scientific methods of farm¬
ing, has greatly lightened the burden of the farmer who owns
much the greater part of the 533,760 acres of the county.

CHAPTER H

Aboriginal Period

S.E.N.Y.— 30

• »

CHAPTER II

Aboriginal Period

Earlier voyagers than Hudson had carried the name of the red
man to Europe. It is claimed that Spanish and French navigators
sailed up the river of the high hills and came near Albany so early
as 1540. Probably the river Indians of 1609 were more surprised
to see Hudson and his crew of eighteen to twenty men than Hud¬
son and his men were to see them, with their canoes swarming
around the “Half-Moon” and the natives climbing aboard her.
From his log-book we learn they brought small skins with them
which Hudson bought “for knives and trifles.” The natives were
inclined to be friendly; he records further that at one place he
received on board the “Half -Moon” loving people and old men,
from whom he accepted gifts, and to whom he gave brandy. Dur¬
ing his sojourn on the river, however, several incidents occurred
which caused some of the Indians to grow hostile. In fact, two
resented being captured and confined on the “Half-Moon” and
when opportunity afforded, escaped, calling out from the rocks on
shore in derision at Hudson and his men on the “Half -Moon."
When the Englishman under the Dutch flag turned his little craft
to sea he probably was not only disappointed by not finding on his
third voyage a passage to India “by the East or the West,” but
regretted the tragic events which had ensued, events which pre¬
saged controversies and struggles which, while delayed, eventually
would come.

These native Americans came to be known by various names
according to the section of the river or territory in which they
lived. Dutch navigators coming after Hudson divided the sundry
tribes into geographical divisions. Only those living within the
confines of the future Orange County need detain us here. From

ORANGE COUNTY

469

Stony Point, in Old Orange, now Rockland County, to the Dans
Rammer, a few miles from Newburgh Bay, they were known as the
Waoranecks, later designated as “the Murderer’s Creek Indians.”
Their castle was on the north spur of Schunemunk Mountain, and
their place of worship, the Dans Rammer.

This latter place was celebrated as an Indian rendezvous. Situ¬
ated on a plateau, north of Newburgh Bay, it was here they held
their religious rites and war dances. The name is found recorded
on many an ancient document. It was referred to by David Pie¬
ter sz de Vries, in his Journal of April 26, 1640, when he observed
a party of riotous savages assembled there who threatened trouble.
Later, on his return down the river, de Vries saw many Indians
fishing from the rocks off the Dans Rammer. The Dutch called
the Indians’ religious rites “devil worship.”

The Waoranecks, or Murderer’s Creek Indians, were one of the
tribes of the Lenni-Lenapes or Delawares. Archaeologists, through
recent research, are satisfied that early Algonquin influence was
prevalent throughout the region under consideration. A map
drawn in 1656 by Adrian Vanderdonk records the Indians living
north and west of the Highlands in Orange County as the Warana-
wankongs. Tribal units, moreover, were indicated by the totems
or emblems worn on their persons, or painted on their huts, such as
the turkey, the turtle, the wolf, and so on. We will revert to this
again when we mention a treaty entered into by these sub-tribes.

Generally speaking, Indians dwelt along the Wallkill through
the central section of the county; along the Neversink and Bashers
rivers in the west ; beside the Otterkill and Murderer’s Creek, and
also along the Quassaick in the east. It appears that they were not
confined to any one spot during the entire year. In the winter
season they sought more sheltered abodes, and possibly more
accessible. For the most part they lived near or in close proximity
to streams. The best attestation as to the location of their villages
may be found by arrowheads, Indian relics and occasionally skele¬
tons unearthed from time to time. According to Indian custom,
chiefs were interred apart from other members of the tribe, and
placed into their last resting place perpendicularly with their imple¬
ments of war around them. Often a little child was so placed in

470

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

a grave as to be protected in death by an adult in whose lap it has
been found, and that quite recently.

In the beginning the Indians and the white settlers of Orange
County maintained peaceful contacts, the former allowing the lat¬
ter to possess their lands after compensating them in some way.
Not until the French and Indian War began were hostility and
barbarity directed against the people of Orange County.

An old manuscript in the State Library in Albany dilates the
ceremonies of the consummation of a treaty witnessed by the
inhabitants of Goshen in 1745. Just where this interesting event
took place is not known; inasmuch as the weather “still continuing
severe,” it might have been enacted in the crude courthouse then
recently erected. It was on the morning of the third of January,
1745, however, that the little band of Indians to the number of
about twelve, all chief men, came marching into the village of
Goshen. It seems they were the accepted agents of two tribes who
used for totems the signs of the wolf and turkey, respectively.
While these individual tribes had long been on friendly terms with
the colonists and had used the western part of Orange County as
a hunting ground, signs of unrest and of distrust had been
observed. This caused consternation on the part of the colonists
because the withdrawal of their former allies left the frontiers of
both Orange and her neighboring county to the north at the mercy
of hostile savages influenced by the French.

This feeling of apprehension was the more impressed upon the
inhabitants of the county by a report that the French Indians were
engaged in making an extra large number of snowshoes, which
suggested that they were preparing for a winter campaign. This
led to a delegation under Colonel DeKay being sent to visit the
Indians for the purpose of attempting to reestablish friendly inter¬
course with them and hence induce them to return to their old
hunting grounds in Orange County. The reason for the with¬
drawal originally seemed to be that they feared the people of
Orange County because they always were armed. Upon hearing
from DeKay that this was necessary in order to protect themselves
against the French, and that it meant no hostility toward the
Indians, the red men were greatly relieved.

ORANGE COUNTY

47i

It was in response to this promise that the dozen Indians arrived
m Goshen, as we have observed, January 3, 1745. Negotiations
and satisfactory results being obtained, closed an incident which
consummated a renewal of friendship by the enactment of the
ceremony of the so-called Covenant Chain. This consisted of a
representative of the colonists being chained to the Indians for a
certain length as a binding token of their being again united in the
bonds of brotherhood, the only incident on record of such a cere¬
mony being performed on Orange County soil. The belt of wam¬
pum given to Colonel DeKay, who in turn was to pass it on to the
Governor, was reciprocated by a belt ordered sent to the Indians
with assurance of protection. .

Land grants had been purchased from the Indians to the south
and to the north of what is today Orange County long before the
county came to be peopled. The English, succeeding the Dutch in
control of government, New Amsterdam became New York and
Fort Orange, Albany. Then came the thrifty Huguenots from
France, the inexorable Presbyterians from Scotland, and the
impoverished Palatines from the Rhine, not to mention various
other nationalities in smaller groups.

South of the patent granted to Louis DuBois, a Huguenot
pioneer, together with eleven other patentees, which became the
foundations of New Paltz, Colonel Patrick MacGregorie, leader of
a colony of Presbyterian immigrants from Scotland, upon solicita¬
tion of Governor Thomas Dongan, acquired lands to the north and
south of Murderer’s Creek. He represented besides himself, his
brother-in-law, David Toshuck, who subscribed his name “Laird
of Minivard,” and twenty-five others, their families and numerous
servants, who erected cabins and also established a trading post.
MacGregorie’s cabin was reared on what is known today as Plum
Point, its original name being “Couwanham’s Hill.” On the south
side of the creek, tradition says, stood the old trading post. This
was the first white settlement on lands comprising the present
Orange County.

Unfortunately, MacGregorie and his company did not perfect
the title by patent, and MacGregorie did not live to sustain his claim.
He had trusted the Governor to protect his interest, and instead
Thomas Dongan purchased for himself the identical lands and

472

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

left MacGregorie to his own devices. In March, 1691, in the Leisler
revolution, MacGregorie was killed, blit he left sons, Hugh, John
and Patrick, and daughters, Katharine Evans and Jane Lawrence,
to continue his claims and this first English colony in Orange
County. David Toshuck, MacGregorie’s brother-in-law, had also
died in the meantime.

To add to the irony of these ill-fated possessions the lands in
question were to be again conveyed by patent to Captain John
Evans, 1694, under the title of the Lordship and Manor of Fletch-
erdon. Katharine, daughter of Patrick MacGregorie, and wife of
John Evans, had every right to expect better treatment of her
family’s claims, but Evans, be it said to his disgrace, compelled his
mother-in-law to dispose of the dwelling in which she lived for
“thirty or thirty-five pounds to the ruin of herself and family.”
Then Evans granted leases to the original settlers, but retained
title. No payment rights were ever issued to the first Scotch Pres¬
byterians, except in the case of the MacGregorie heirs, to whom in
a later year, 1720, a patent for the Plum Point farm was granted.

Within the present bounds of Orange County the next earliest
settlement was on the so-called Swartwout patent, October 14,
1697. Prior to this date, however, the old Mine Road, an enlarge¬
ment of an Indian path, was occasionally traveled. Perhaps the
earliest settler in that part of the county was one William Tiet-
soort, a blacksmith, who, by his own testimony was formerly a
resident of Schenectady, and after the massacre there, 1689, when
he barely escaped with his life, he left friends in the Esopus coun¬
try, and ultimately came to live in the Minisink country, where the
Indians granted him a tract of land. This was in 1698. His lands
later were assumed to be included under protest in a patent issued
to Matthew Ling. It would seem, therefore, that William Tiet-
soort was the first white settler on the western border of the county.

At the opening of the century individuals and associations vied
with each other in seeking to obtain extensive grants of land. In
succession we have in the county the Cheesek-ook Patent, of 1 702 ;
the Wawayanda Patent, of 1703, and the Minisink Patent, a still
larger tract, of 1704. Being vaguely defined, the boundary lines
of the first two for years were under dispute. Not until two years
after the close of the American Revolutionary War was the last

ORANGE COUNTY

473

gun fired in an endeavor to determine the issue. Notes on the
testimony are extant, and strangely the hearing was conducted in
Yelverton’s barn in Chester, the plaintiff side being represented by
Burr and Hamilton, who were legal partners at that period. The
point of the contention was to decide what constituted the High¬
lands, and the notes are of special interest as they give a genealogi¬
cal record of the number of influential men then living in the
county. The views of each witness consisted as to what he had
always understood the Highlands to mean. The Wawayanda
claim was that the Highlands were the hills bordering on the Hud¬
son from Storm King south to Ramapo.

Under a later Governor, Lord Bellomont, a crusade was
founded to reclaim some of these large tracts of land for the
Crown ; so intense became his campaign that England finally was
aroused. He asked the lords of trade to vacate grants formerly
allowed to Governor Fletcher, “which are so extravagant that the
province can never be peopled.” So great was their extent that he
likened them to coming not far short of Yorkshire in territory.

The outcome was that the repeal of the Evans Patent came by
Act of the Assembly in 1699. This paved the way for small tracts
of patents which were issued from 1701 to 1775. The majority of
them, however, were issued prior to 1750. Over eighty such tracts
were conveyed during the seventy-five years.

That which may be mentioned especially is the German patent
issued to the Palatines, December 18, 1719, and which today forms
all of the city of Newburgh and lands to the north in the town of
Newburgh. These poor, unfortunate people emanated from the
region known as the Palatinate on the Rhine in Germany. Driven
by adverse circumstances to seek English aid, inspired further by
an intrepid leadership under one, the Rev. Joshua de Kocherthal, a
Lutheran clergyman, they made their way to England in 1708.
The party numbered at first forty-one persons. Gaining the sym¬
pathy of Queen Anne, others joined the pilgrimage in London until
it had reached fifty-one. They ultimately sailed from England
in the “Globe” around the middle of October. A fleet of ships
embarked together, Lord Lovelace, the new Governor, being on
board the “Kingdale,” which became separated from the others,
finally landing at Flushing, Long Island, after a passage of “nine

474

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

weeks and odd days.” Around the eighteenth of December all
the ships had arrived in New York; there the Palatines remained
during the winter.

In the spring of 1709 the Kocherthal party sailed up the Hud¬
son and settled on ground where, as we have seen, Henry Hudson
declared was “a very pleasant place to build a town on.” For some
unknown reason their lands were not laid out until Augustus
Graham, Surveyor-General of the Province of New York, drew
his map of Newburgh and the vicinity, April 30, 1713. This map
is carefully preserved by The Historical Society of Newburgh Bay
and the Highlands. Six years more were to elapse before the
patent itself was issued, December 18, 1719, almost ten years after
the Palatines had first landed on the shores of their Hudson River
lands. Appreciative, strictly honest and industrious, the Pala¬
tines who first settled in Newburgh, set an admirable example
of what a colonizing people can endure and surmount; that no
recorded misdemeanor or crime was ever charged against them
speaks for itself.

When the Palatines settled just beyond the Highlands there
were groups of people living in the vicinity on both sides of the
river. A friendly intercourse soon sprang up between the groups.
The Germans often stood as sponsors at the baptism of English
babies so early as July, 1709. The Southerland home (William
Southerland was one of the early patentees), which adjoined on
the south side of Quassaick Creek that of the Widow Pletel, became
for a time the center of religious activities. Meetings and cere¬
monies frequently took place here. Later, the house of George
Lockstead, whom the Widow Pletel had in the meantime married,
was the popular rendezvous of such meetings.

That some of the Palatines were quick to avail themselves of
brighter prospects only confirms their innate enterprise and well-
directed energies. One great complaint on their part was that the
ground was too hilly; they had been given in all approximately
2,190 acres. During the course of a few years a number of the
original families had left Newburgh and in their places came the
English, Scotch and Irish, with a few other scattered nationalities.

In addition to those who took the places of the Palatine settlers
the county began to be peopled by the coming of settlers upon lands

ORANGE COUNTY

475

of various acreage. In so brief a compass we can do no more than
name a few of them. One of the earliest was Henry Wileman,
who made a settlement the same year that the Palatines came to
Newburgh, 1709, upon his patent of three thousand acres. This
was located about a mile below the present village of Walden. The
place was known as Wilemantown.

Another early settlement was on the west bank of the Otterkill,
being a part of the Wawayanda Patent. This settlement of Chris¬
topher Denn in 1712 has a romantic touch. After paying a pre-

(Courtesy of The Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands)

John Moffat’s House, Little Britain

liminary visit, Denn sent his adopted daughter, Sarah Wells, a
girl sixteen years old, with some Indians as her guides, from Staten
Island up the Hudson River to New Windsor, and over through
the wilderness to the place of her destination. There they built a
wigwam. Concerned over permitting so young a girl to embark on
so precarious a journey, Denn soon followed. Sarah Wells was

4/6

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

married to William Bull, an Englishman, who first had lived on
another part of the Wawayanda Patent, only a few miles away.
They had twelve children. Mrs. Bull at her death in 1796 was 102
years and 15 days; she left descendants totaling 335.

Daniel Cromeline purchased an interest in a part of the Wawa¬
yanda Patent and settled upon it in 1716; here he erected the
dwelling known as the “Grey Court House.” It was about five
miles southeast of the house built by Christopher Denn. For years

(Courtesy of The Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands)
Isaac Belknap House, Town of New Windsor

the “Grey Court House” was said to be the largest and the best
built house in all that section of the county west of the Hudson
River. Here William Bull lived prior to his marriage. It was
for a long time kept as a public inn.

It would far exceed the space allotted to even enumerate the
settlements of the early seventeen hundreds throughout Orange
County. There are some, however, whose dwellings are still stand-

ORANGE COUNTY

477

ing which would be germane to record. One of the earliest of
them is known in the northern end of the present county as the
“Mill House.” When the first part of this dwelling was erected is
not known definitely; that the property on which it is erected
ended at the Dans Kammer, where the dark silhouettes of Indians
against the fires were observed, is true, and also that the tract
originally comprised 3,600 acres according to a parchment inden-

(Courtesy of The Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands )

Haskell House, New Windsor

ture in possession of the present writer. Back in 1714 Louis
Gomez, a Spanish Jew, had obtained this land from Queen Anne,
and his blockhouse with walls over two feet thick with two huge
open fireplaces facing each other at the extreme east and west ends
of the house, made of primaeval timber and field stone, was built
shortly thereafter. Running past the house and winding obliquely
through the woods is the ancient Indian trail leading to the shore

478

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

of the river. Up this trail came the red men who sold their pelts to
Gomez.

In the Revolutionary days the Old Mill House was owned by
the grandson of the Wolfert of whom Washington Irving writes
in his narrative “Wolfert’s Roost.” Wolfert Acker played a
prominent part in the war. He was chairman of a “Committee of
Safety and Observation/’ which also consisted of such men as
Colonel Jonathan Hasbrouck, Thomas Palmer, Dr. Moses Higby,
of whom we will hear more later; Isaac Belknap and others. He
built the second story of the Old Mill House of bricks manufac¬
tured on his own estate. His house became a meeting place for the
Whigs of this section of the county in which it is said a strong
feeling in favor of the Mother Country existed. He gave liberally
of his time and money to the cause. A ferry between Hampton
and Wappingers Falls, now long discontinued, was established by
Acker. He was sixty-seven years old when he died, January 17,
1799, and on his monument in the Marlborough burial ground is
inscribed “a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief.”

A later owner of the Old Mill House was Dard Hunter, a noted
designer, who built here a paper mill and having collected many
ancient volumes on paper making and studying their content, he
ultimately was able to produce paper as fine in texture as that on
which the old books were printed. He also established a printing
press and printed some exquisitely designed books. His many rare
volumes, some of which had belonged to his father’s library, occupied
the space where once Indian pelts sold to Gomez had hung.

Only a little later in date, but contemporaneous to the coming
of Louis Gomez, a few miles to the southwest the log house of John
Haskell, an early patentee, stood. Haskell had acquired acres at
least at two separate periods, two thousand acres in 1719, and
another two thousand acres in 1721, territory which originally
included all of Snake Hill near Newburgh and adjacent tracts.
The Haskell house is still standing on Windsor Highway, a mile
south of the city line of Newburgh. Haskell experimented in
various kinds of seed, plants, and livestock, and, with the assist¬
ance of Negroes, of whom he had a goodly number, he cultivated
his lands and nurtured his stock assiduously. He was one of the
commissioners, including Charles Clinton, father of Governor

11 94972

480

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

George and General James Clinton, of Revolutionary fame, to
mark out the original highway from Shawangunk to the Hudson
River at Newburgh. In a description of dwelling houses, 1798, the
Haskell house was listed as sixty years old and out of repair, which
makes the date of its erection about 1738. Tradition and reliable
evidence, however, shows Haskell to have been a local resident
before this time, as his first patent dates back, as we have seen, to
1719.

The house is made of square logs horizontally placed up to the
second story, from which point the logs are perpendicular, except
now and then one is laid on an angle to strengthen the structure.
Over these logs which are chinked with lime was placed on the east
and west sides, probably at a later period, an external coating
similar to stucco. On the north and south ends over the logs are
upright boards, fastened with battens. Years ago there was a
front porch running nearly the entire width of the dwelling; age
and safety required its removal. The old house is linked up with
the Revolution in that two army doctors, Campbell and Coventry,
occupied it as headquarters, 1781 to 1782.

In the New Windsor neighborhood are to be found still a num¬
ber of old houses built long before the Revolution, most of which
quartered army officers. “Stonefield,” erected in 1745 by the Rev.
John Little, is located north of the village of Salisbury Mills on the
road commencing at Little Britain Church and running southerly
to Washingtonville. Long known as Moffat’s Academy from the
fact that John Moffat, who married Little’s daughter, after his
retirement as pastor of the Good Will Church, conducted a school
in the upper rooms of this house. In an old account book kept by
Dr. Moffat is recorded that on February 15, 1779, DeWitt Clin¬
ton, later Governor of the State, took up at the Moffat Academy
the study of Latin.

In the approximate vicinity of the same township are other
stone houses, namely, Isaac Belknap’s, 1749; Edmonston’s, the
headquarters of several Revolutionary officers, 1755; the Welling
house, 1765. In the log cabin which the Welling dwelling dis¬
placed was born Dr. Thomas Young, who proposed the manner
by which to get rid of the unwelcome tea of Boston Harbor. He
later was a physician in Philadelphia, where, contracting a malig-

ORANGE COUNTY

481

nant fever, he died in June, 1777. Near the Temple Hill Revolu¬
tionary encampment grounds stands the Deacon Brewster house,
bearing the date of 1768 in its gable, and which during the last
eight months of the war quartered Chaplain Joel Barlow, a poet of
the Revolution, who later was honored by President Monroe by
appointment as minister to France.

S.E.N.Y. — 31

CHAPTER III

Civil Government

CHAPTER III

Civil Government

As we already have observed, under the law of November i,
1683, the Province of New York was divided “into shires and coun¬
ties.” Of the ten original counties, Ulster and Orange were
destined to interchange in part their territorial divisions. In the
beginning, territory later under the political jurisdiction of the
county of Orange was a part of the original county of Ulster. As
at first constituted, the county of Ulster embraced, in part, that
area south of the present county line from a little below Marlbor¬
ough to as far as the Moodna (Murderer’s Creek), or to the
northern extremity of the then Orange County. This political
division lasted for over a hundred years, so that it must be borne
in mind that events occurring prior to the redivision of county
lines, 1798, when a new county, Rockland, was formed out of the
lower end of the original Orange County, the history thereof is,
in fact, the history of a part of old Ulster. In the year mentioned
above, the southern region of Ulster County which was annexed to
the county of Orange included the towns of Newburgh, New
Windsor, Wallkill, Montgomery and Deerpark.

As organization of towns and precincts began soon after the
original counties were formed, and as the earlier ones of the origi¬
nal county of Orange at present lie in the county of Rockland, we
will leave these to be considered in the history of the latter county.
The settlements on the Wawayanda Patent in the neighborhoods of
Goshen, Warwick and Greycourt were organized at the precinct
of Goshen around 1714; this precinct was later divided in its east¬
ward part becoming the precinct of New Cornwall. This was in
1764. These two precincts, together with the Haverstraw and
Orangetown precincts of the old county of Orange covered the
entire territory of the original countv.

486

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

But here we must consider other precincts, then embracing the
county of Ulster, but ultimately included within the present county
of Orange, which are to be a part of our present study. The
precincts as first organized underwent a change territorially, others
were created into new precincts bearing new names. To trace
their history and exact areas would take us into a lengthy exposi¬
tion which is not at all necessary here. Suffice it to say, however,
that immediately north of Murderer’s Creek there can be said to
have been no civil government until the arrival of the Palatines,
1709, when this district became the precinct of the Highlands and
attached to New Paltz. Lands to the west and north about this
time were included in other precincts; not until 1743 were three
distinct precincts established under the names of the Wallkill
Precinct, Shawangunk Precinct, and. the Highlands Precinct, hav¬
ing all the officers of towns and fulfilling their respective duties.

Singling out the last named because of a contribution which
has recently publicly come to light we may say that the precinct of
the Highlands continued in existence until 1762, when it was
divided into two precincts, namely, New Windsor and Newburgh.
The latter included the present towns of Marlborough and Platte-
kill, then, as now, in Ulster County, as well as the present town and
city of Newburgh, later, 1798, embodied in the county of Orange.
The subdivision was in effect until 1772, when Marlborough and
Plattekill became the precinct of New Marlborough.

An old document still extant and preserved in the Ulster County
Clerk’s Office, Kingston, gives “an estimate or list of the estates,
real and personal, of all the freeholders and inhabitants of the
Precinct of Newburgh — 1767.” There are 257 names in the list,
and the assessment and rates are in pounds, shillings and pence.

There are at present twenty townships in the county of Orange.
In the early history of the county the territory embracing this
region formed parts of former precincts; out of these precincts
from the year 1788 down to 1889 we find the formal dates of their
organization. The towns of Newburgh and New Windsor, hav¬
ing been separated from the precinct of the Highlands in 1762,
were established as townships March 7, 1788. Goshen and Corn¬
wall, both having been formed from the precinct of Goshen, became
separate towns on the same date, although Cornwall had been

ORANGE COUNTY

487

known as New Cornwall. It was not changed to Cornwall until
March 3, 1797. Two other towns, Warwick and Minisink, both
of which were formed from the precinct of Goshen, were, likewise,
erected as towns March 7, 1788. Still two more towns were cre¬
ated on March 7, 1788, those of Montgomery and Wallkill, both
being formed from the precinct of Wallkill. The former, however,
was known as the precinct of Hanover, March 24, 1772, changing
its name later to the precinct of Montgomery and becoming a town
as we already have indicated in 1788.

City Hall, Middletown

Deerpark follows next in point of priority, having been formed
from the precinct of Maghaghkemek, later, 1743, included in the
precinct of Mamakating, and becoming a town April 5, 1798.
Blooming Grove having been taken from the more ancient town¬
ship of Cornwall, was organized March 23, 1799. Monroe comes
next in point of organization under its present name. Formed
from Cornwall under the name of Chesecocks, in 1799, it was

488

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

renamed Southfields, 1802, and lastly became Monroe, April 6,
1808. Crawford was formed from the town of Montgomery,
March 4, 1823. April 5, 1830, Hamptonburg became a town
from territory formerly lying in Goshen, Blooming Grove, New
Windsor, Montgomery and Wallkill. Mt. Hope, first known as
the town of Calhoun, was created out of the towns of Wallkill and
Deerpark, February 15, 1825. Chester, formed from Goshen, War¬
wick, Blooming Grove, and Monroe was established March 22,
1845; Wawayanda, derived from Minisink, became a town Novem¬
ber 27, 1849, and four years later, also from territory formerly a
part of Minisink, was formed the town of Greenville. Highlands,
taken from Cornwall, was made a town December 3, 1872, and
December 19, 1899, the last two towns of the county, Tuxedo and
Woodbury, were formed, both once belonging to the town of
Monroe. The county has three cities: Newburgh, created April
22, 1865; Middletown, June 29, 1888; and Port Jervis, June 26,
1907.

Originally, in old Orange County, court was held at Orange-
town. In 1727 the county was divided into two court districts,
when court was held alternately at Orangetown and at Goshen.
Orangetown at that time was the shire-town. The present county
court displaced the more ancient court of common pleas. The cir¬
cuit courts created in 1821 succeeded the circuits of the Supreme
Court until 1846, when a new Supreme Court was established.
Surrogates’ courts began jurisdiction in the county so early as
1754. When the new county line was defined, 1798, two separate
districts were formed with court being held alternately at Goshen
and Newburgh, the former being the shire- town, an arrangement
which still is in practice.

Realizing the inconvenience of traveling through the High¬
lands, a bill was passed on December 16, 1737, to enable the justices
of the peace in that part of Orange County lying to the northward
of the Highlands, to build a courthouse and gaol for the said
county in Goshen. The money raised for this purpose was not to
exceed 150 pounds. It is proper to assume that the building was
completed the following year, 1738. In 1754 the courthouse build¬
ing having grown inadequate to its present requirement, an Act
was passed, December 7, to raise a sum not exceeding one hundred

ORANGE COUNTY

489

pounds to repair and make an addition to the courthouse at Goshen.
This building was of stone and wood. In later years the south end
wall of the Orange Hotel was the dungeon wall of the first court¬
house. It was demolished at the outbreak of the American Revo¬
lutionary War and, in 1773, a new stone building took its place at a
cost of 1,400 pounds.

This place of justice has been described as a plain structure
without belfry. In place of the British crown-stone which was

Middletown Post Office

intended to be placed in the building, that of the date 1773 was
worked elaborately in brick on the east wall. According to tradi¬
tion, it appears that a disagreement arose as to where the stone
should be located, when Gabriel Wisner, a justice of the peace,
asked that it be given over to him, that he would dispose of it to

the satisfaction of all concerned. Holding the stone in the wall he

struck it with a hammer until it fell apart into fragments. He lost
his life subsequently in the battle of the Minisink.

490

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

In this crude courthouse were incarcerated all types of pris¬
oners, political offenders being among the number. Here was con¬
fined during the Revolutionary War Joshua Hett Smith, who was
brought hither because of his connection in the betrayal of West
Point by Benedict Arnold. “The jail was filled with those who
professed to be the king’s friends,” writes Smith; “tories, and
those who were prisoners of war; felons, and characters of all
colors and descriptions. I was challenged to know if I had any
hand in the business of aiding the tory prisoners to effect their
escape from the dungeon. These were a number of persons who
were taken in arms while going to join the king’s troops in Canada ;
they were residents of western settlements where, the country being
thinly inhabited, they had no jails, or at least none that were large
and strong enough to contain the number of persons who were
captured, and who were therefore brought to this place for greater
security. Among them were some of the most daring and hardy
people, belonging to Colonel Brant and Butler’s corps of whites
and Indians. Fifty of these were crowded in a small cell, which
had a window grated with strong bars of iron, and a sentinel to
watch it. Notwithstanding his vigilance, however, some imple¬
ments were conveyed to the prisoners, who, in the night, by gentle
degrees, picked away the mortar from the heavy foundation walls,
and, in the course of one night, made an aperture large enough to
admit a man of almost any size to pass through, which they all did
and effected their escape. Fortunately a few days after, several
persons came to see me, as well on ... . business as from friend¬
ship, and they having interest with the deputy sheriff, persuaded
him to suffer me to come out of my place of confinement, and sit
with them in the open court room.” As evening approached Smith
asked to be allowed to visit his room for a moment. The request
being granted, he continues, “when I came near the door of my
prison, I suddenly turned, and from a wink of my servant went
down a staircase that was at the side of it, and without delay made
to the outer door of the jail, which not being bolted, I went out.”

This courthouse in which Smith was confined was later changed
by the addition of a third story, with cupola and bell. The jail
room was removed to the new floor, and other changes were made.
The structure had no basement. When men confined for debt died

ORANGE COUNTY

491

within its walls they either were buried under the floor or in the
prison yard. One of the more noted cases was that of Major
Antill, an Englishman of superior social rank. In each case under
the law the body was held until the debt was redeemed. Edward
M. Ruttenber, the historian, tells that, in 1875, as men were dig¬
ging a trench several bodies were found which had been buried in
the yard for debt. While the identification of the remains were
never known the culprits under the law gained a final release from
their doomed confinement through the benevolence of a laborer’s
pick.

One of the most conspicuous of the county’s most dangerous
characters was probably Claudius Smith. His family came up
from the eastern end of Long Island, Southold, where Claudius
was born April 15, 1701. We are told that what education he
received in crime was begun at an early age. During the Revolu¬
tion the inhabitants of Orange and adjacent counties were to live
in constant terror of Smith, who was assisted by his three sons
and Tory adherents ; their commitments of robbery and of plunder
were appalling. They even inflicted death upon some of their vic¬
tims. Their leading cattle out of the county and helping the same
to reach the British lines in New York secured for them name of
“cowboys.” Especially in the Clove, a territory through moun¬
tain passes extending from Highland Mills down the Ramapo
Valley, Smith and his notorious bandits operated. The inacces¬
sible declivities of the mountains made their criminal errands com¬
paratively easy to effect, while they were assisted in their depreda¬
tions by friends of the enemy along the way. Periods of incarcera¬
tion had no effect upon Claudius Smith ; no sooner was he released
from jail than he would resume his baleful practices. His follow¬
ers, always cognizant as to the whereabouts of their leader, could
be depended upon to aid his escapes, if such were attempted, and
in a number of cases they were. One day Claudius and his rescuers
were enabled to ride off from the Goshen jail because he had
threatened death to the sheriff if he failed to hand over the keys,
which he did, knowing too well that the threat would be carried
out. Occasionally the spirit would move Smith to take pity upon
the poor and unfortunate, but any gift he might bestow would be
ill gotten gain so far as he was concerned. Always another had

492

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

paid the price. After a life of crime and murder it took an armed
force to go to Long Island, whither he had returned, and capture
him in his sleep. Back to Orange County he was brought, and in
spite of the fact that he had committed murder, he never was tried
for that crime, but indicted for burglary, and according to law
Claudius Smith was sentenced to be hanged on January 22, 1779.

The courthouses now in use at Newburgh and Goshen were
erected in 1842, as a result of a compromise on the creation of a
new county which was agitated at least three times, the first in the
spring of 1824, when an attempt was made to divide'’ the county of
Orange. The plan was to form a new county by the name of Jack-
son from parts of Orange and Ulster. Mr. Wilkin, one of the
representatives from Orange County in the Assembly, brought the
merits of the question before the Committee of the Whole, and a
spirited debate followed. Mr. Wilkin was opposed to the bill, so
far as it related to Orange County. He said he believed that a
majority of the citizens residing within the proposed new county,
with the exception of Newburgh, were opposed to the project. He
further contended that if the measure passed “there would be left
to the County of Orange, on the north river, but one mile of
feasible territory, the remainder being about eight miles, consist¬
ing of mountains of the Highlands.” .... “Projects to divide
old counties,” he continued, “could generally be traced to disap¬
pointed ambition and the hopes of office.” The next day the debate
was continued with six members voicing their views. Mr. Wil¬
kin, who had brought the bill before the Assembly, asserted that
there was lobbying going on, and that a libelous pamphlet had been
circulated secretly. It was the perfect right of any man to vote for
this bill, continued Mr. Wilkin, but when he transferred “his exer¬
tions from the House to the lobby, he and his constituents had rea¬
son to complain.” The vote finally was ordered, and when the
presiding officer called for the ayes and noes, tjie question was
decided in the negative by a substantial majority, and Orange
County remained intact then and since that day. The second
attempt to divide the county occurred in 1832, when “Newburgh”
was to be its name, and the third efifort was made in 1858, the new
county to be called “Highland.” The first two attempts were
predicated upon the refusal of the western part of the county to

ORANGE COUNTY

493

the erection of a courthouse at Newburgh, but this was rendered
unnecessary by the building of the two courthouses in 1842.

There was just cause for the Indian tribes of the 1750s to wage
frontier warfare against the white man ; the latter had been over-
zealous in his aggressive dealings with them, had cheated them out
of their just dues in land transactions, and had incensed them
beyond measure. As a matter of fact, he could expect nothing
magnanimous at their hands, and he got nothing. The French,
taking advantage of this situation, did not attempt to appease the
red man’s wrath, but rather to fan it as an advantage against their
ancient enemy, the English. These grievances led to an alliance
between these early native Americans and the French, and forces
were united which in the next quarter of a century were singularly
enough to be reversed. In 1755 there was a supreme council of
the chiefs of the East and of the West at Allegheny, where wrongs
were rehearsed and claims laid bare until it was declared to take
the issue into the very heart of the settlement within whose prov¬
ince every warrior chief was commanded to kill and scalp, and burn
the homes of, the settlers until the English would be compelled to
negotiate a peace satisfactory to the Indians.

This began all too well to be carried out, and while only frag¬
mentary evidence has come down to us, reputable citizens like Colo¬
nel Thomas Ellison, of New Windsor, and Colonel Charles Clinton,
of Little Britain, have left pictures of this tragic era.

For two years and more the settlers of the frontier were kept in
constant fear of the incursions of the Indians. “It is but too well
known by the late numerous murders barbarously committed on
our borders,” writes Colonel Thomas Ellison, “that the County of
Ulster and the north end of Orange is become the only frontier
part of the province left unguarded and exposed to the cruel incur¬
sions of the Indian enemy, and the inhabitants of these parts have
been obliged to perform very hard military duty for these two
years past, in ranging the woods and guarding the frontiers, these
two counties keeping out almost constantly from fifty to one hun¬
dred men; sometimes by forced detachments of the militia and at
other times by voluntary subscriptions; nay, often two hundred
men, which has been an insupportable burden on the poor people
.... and yet the whole of the militia of those parts were ordered

ORANGE COUNTY

495

to march to Fort Edward; the officers had no orders to leave a
detachment to guard the frontiers. So orders were given for the
whole to march. But one might as well have torn humans asunder,
as to have compelled those of New York cutting the throats of
their wives and children; it is to be hoped that if ever there should
be like occasion the militia may be drafted from parts not so much
exposed. ” The above is taken from a manuscript of an account
of the expedition for the relief of Fort William Henry, under date
of November i, 1757, now among the Ellison papers in Washing¬
ton’s Headquarters Museum, Newburgh.

That the war was not prolonged further was due partly to the
erection of blockhouses along the western frontier and to the nego¬
tiations instigated by Teedyuscung, the King of the Delawares,
which ultimately resulted in the Indians being remunerated for
their lands in the Minisink country and an exchange of prisoners
effected.

Little that is truly edifying can be said of Colonial politics in
the very early days of the county. Changes of government paved
the way for slight reforms, only to have conditions revert to
former methods of corruption, especially pertaining to the fran¬
chise. To dissolve the Colonial Assembly, as frequently was done,
in order to order a new election, sometimes proved of little advan¬
tage, because while the personnel might have changed, methods of
corruption remained the same.

Up to the beginning of the eighteenth century, or just prior to
1700, the freeholders of the county were required to select their
representatives in conjunction with those of New York. Instead
of visiting that place to record their vote, the sheriff of Orange
County carried the returns to the sheriff of New York, who
announced the result. In 1699 the county wras given representa¬
tion in the Assembly, and until 1749 the poll was held at Orange-
town, now in Rockland County. In 1748 Goshen became the vot¬
ing place for those whose residence made that town more con¬
venient. Eventually reforms were instituted by the Assembly. The
large grants of land in many cases were set aside, the elections
were more strictly guarded and laws enacted which were designed
to punish those who perpetrated frauds upon the revenue.

496

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

In 1702, Governor Bellomont, who effected these reforms, was
succeeded by Lord Cornbury, who proved to be the most unde¬
sirable of all the governors under the English Crown. Per¬
haps because of the extremes to which the Governor went, better
days in New York, succeeded Cornbury, the Assembly began the
the inequalities of government, and when Lord Lovelace, who
befriended the Palatine Colony of Newburgh during their early
days in New York, succeeded Cornbury, the Assembly began the
struggle which ultimately ended in complete severance from the
Mother Country. In all the contest which was prolonged until
America finally was free of the yoke of British tyranny, the Rep¬
resentatives of Orange County were always found in the front
rank of independent thought, consistent endeavor and aggressive
action.

A historian has said that “there is no period of our history so
little understood by the average American as those interesting
years between the discovery of America and the War of the Revo¬
lution/’ It would have been much more interesting if our Colonial
ancestors had left us more records of home life, and less of early
and sometimes hard laws, as the hanging of Quakers and the burn¬
ing of witches.

But occasionally we catch glimpses of Colonial ways, and find
they do not differ very much from the present. For example, we
speak of the coquette of the old days, and today use the word
flapper. We read the following in 1771 : “O, what cost are some
females at to procure a husband — eyebrows pulled with little
pincers, eyes disguised, cheeks put in a vermillion tincture, and all
to serve as snares to catch some lover.”

Having caught the lover, a Colonial wedding was held, generally
in the home of the bride, and the bridal journey was usually to the
new home of the happy couple. At such a wedding over 138 years
ago it appears that the bride’s gift from her parents was a fine
horse. After the wedding the bride and groom were seated on the
horse and rode to their future home. Often we read such a jour¬
ney was made in company with the bridesmaids on horseback, with
the horse bedecked with flowers. The first Sunday after the wed¬
ding the bride was often permitted to choose the text for the
sermon, for then she appeared for the first time in company with

ORANGE COUNTY 497

her husband. It is said that the Bible was zealously scanned to
discover a text either concerning a good husband or one in which
the groom’s name was mentioned. For more than a century
anterior to the Revolutionary War no divorce is said to have been
granted in the Colony of New York.

S.E.N.Y. — 32

CHAPTER IV

The Revolutionary Period

CHAPTER IV

The Revolutionary Period

After the enactment of the non-importation resolution of 1774
the die was cast so far as the ultimate position of the Colonies in
regard to the Mother Country was concerned. Then there was no
turning back. With these resolutions came the call for the organi¬
zation in every city, town and precinct of a “committee of safety
and observation.” The response in the district now included in the
county of Orange, which then embraced the southern part of
Ulster, as we have noted, left little to be desired, as the sentiment
against the ministry of the Crown was strong, in spite of the fact
that the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, Dr. Cadwallader
Colden, resided in one of the precincts of the county, together with
other influences of a governmental nature.

About this time a pamphlet, “Free Thoughts and the Resolves
of Congress,” appeared. This enabled the people to familiarize
themselves with the issues involved, and in a number of the pre¬
cincts, such as the precincts of Shawangunk, Hanover, Wallkill,
New Windsor and Newburgh, the pamphlet was burned publicly.
Soon thereafter meetings were called and committees of “safety
and observation” appointed. On the seventh of April, 1775, a
convention was held at New Paltz for the object of selecting dele¬
gates to a provincial convention to be held in the city of New York
on the twentieth of the same month. The delegates chosen to
represent the county with full power “to declare the sense of this
county relative to the grievances under which his Majesty’s Ameri¬
can subjects labor” were Charles DeWitt, George Clinton, and
Levi Pawling.

A sequel soon followed in the form of a pledge brought up by
the committee of New York which obligated the signers to observe
and maintain all rules and regulations of both the Continental and

SQ2

SOUTHEASTERN' NEW YORK

Provincial Congresses. This pledge was sent to all the precincts
and counties in the Province : its significance was two-fold : first,
it put each and every man on record for or against the British
ministry: secondly, it served to form practically a revolutionary
government.

Ultimately, the local committees in the various precincts of
the county were invested with power which embraced the appoint¬
ment of assessors and collectors. The county committee, there¬
fore. acted "as supervisors according to the police of the city,
county, town or precinct" in which they had been selected. These,
with the assessors and collectors were ordered "to assess, raise and
collect the quotas to be raised to carry on the revolutionary govern¬
ment." They, likewise, were given the power to arrest persons
unfriendly to the cause of the colonies : in short, dictatorial powers
presently reposed in the local committee, they assuming the last
resort of authority during the recess of the ‘Provincial Convention,
which remained the supreme head of the revolutionary movement
until 1777, when the first republican Constitution of the State went
into effect with the election of a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor
and other State officers.

The names of the signers to the pledge of association have come
down to the present day through precincts that later were differ¬
ently constituted; and, therefore, certain names that appear in
specific precincts were later recorded in other precincts. The fol¬
lowing, however, will give the reader an idea of approximately
how many in each precinct signed the pledge, and how many
refused to sign it. The number who signed in the precinct of
Newburgh, for example, was 174: those not signing, fifty-four.
Of these fourteen later came before the committee, as Edward M.
Ruttenber records, "and made affidavits of their intention to abide
by the measures of the Continental Congress and pay their quota
of a" expenses, a pledge which some of them subsequently
reconsidered.”

In the precinct of Xew Windsor we find 146 persons who sub¬
scribed their names to the pledge : there may have been others, and
no list appears of those who refused to sign. Xo names are
returned from the precincts of Hanover and WalUrill, although
each appointed a "committee of safety and correspondence.’’ The

ORANGE COUNTY

503

precinct of Mamakating came forward with 131 names, being all
of the freeholders and inhabitants of the precinct. The precinct of
Goshen, then comprising the Minisink and Blooming Grove dis¬
tricts, records 510 names who signed, forty-two exempts, and
twenty persons who refused to sign. Cornwall precinct did not
submit a complete list, but in all at different times 530 names were
recorded, with thirty-two who refused to sign. Thus the county
as then constituted records 1,533 persons who signed the pledge as
against 106 who refused to sign and some of these later, as we have
seen, reconsidered their action.

The “committees of safety and observation” almost immedi¬
ately set to work in the performance of their respective duties,
apprehending those who not only refused to take the oath of alle¬
giance, but who attempted to assist those who adhered to the King.
The organization of military companies, known as the militia, was
another duty which fell to the “committees of safety and observa¬
tion.” There also was formed a regiment of minute men, as well
as three companies, in all 201 men, of rangers, these to act “as
scouting parties to range the woods,” to guard the inhabitants
from Indian attacks, and to perform any other necessary service.
The militia bore a very important part during the entire war and
were ever ready to respond to an alarm for service either by day
or by night.

Wherever the soldiers of the Continental Line were billeted,
naturally hardships and sacrifices were imposed upon the inhabi¬
tants of the immediate vicinity. Even some of the homes of the
community where the soldiers were quartered were pressed into
service. James Donnelly, whose recollections were prepared for
Edward M. Ruttenber’s history of the town of Newburgh, pub¬
lished in 1859, says :

“During the war . . . . soldiers were quartered on us
nearly all the time. When they came, the sergeant would
open the door and tell you that you must take in the soldiers,
while the soldiers stood dripping in the snow or rain,
anxiously waiting for shelter. My father gave up the
whole house to them; and when the out-kitchen and house
were full, I have known him to be at the barn until 10

5°4

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

o’clock at night making places for them to sleep. They
were compelled to lie on the floor to sleep, and I thought
no more of walking over them than I now do of walking
on a carpet. The soldiers were generally militia men called
out on alarms. Sometimes they remained a long time, but
generally only a night or so. My father always tried to
make them comfortable; he gave them potatoes, apples
and cider. They never would steal from him, but would
go to the fences of the neighbors and take rails and burn
them; but they were regarded as privileged to take such
things.”

At an early stage of the War of the American Revolution it
was conceded by both contestants that no valley was of more intrin¬
sic importance by virtue of its strategic position than the valley
of the Hudson; to control the navigation of this river, therefore,
became the special aim of the American commander-in-chief. “It
is the only passage,” wrote General Washington, “by which the
enemy from New York or any part of our coast can ever hope to
cooperate with an army from Canada ; that the possession of it is
indispensably essential to preserve the communication between
the eastern, middle and southern states ; and further, that upon its
security, in a great measure, depend our chief supplies of flour for
the subsistence of such forces, as we have occasion for, in the
course of the war, either in the eastern or northern departments
or in the country lying high up on the west side of it.”

To maintain the supremacy of this waterway the Colony of
New York concentrated its attention on fortifying certain positions
along the river. The British, too, were laying plans to ascend the
river at the first opportunity. Only in comparatively recent years
have we learned that Sir Henry Clinton had no sooner succeeded
General Howe in command at New York than he began to collect
data of the river in the vicinity of the Highlands. He issued
orders for freehand drawings, including various sketches of the
topography of this region. Maps were carefully prepared and in
the information sought he endeavored to ascertain the political
affiliation of the inhabitants from those whose intelligence on the
subject would be most trustworthy. Little seems to have escaped

ORANGE COUNTY

505

( Courtesy of Dudley Diemer)

Ettrick House, at Mouth of Quassaick Creek, Newburgh, Where Kidnapping of

General Washington Was Planned

deep, so it was determined not to adopt the same type of obstruc-.
tion between here and Anthony’s Nose, as had been constructed at
the lower fort.

It was completed in the early part of November, 1777, but it
appears to have separated twice, after holding only a few hours.
That winter it was repaired under the superintendency of Captain
Thomas Machin, the engineer, who was ordered to alter and fix the

his researches, and these original manuscripts are today in pos¬
session of the William L. Clements’ Library at the University of
Michigan.

The first obstructions at Fort Washington proved inadequate,
and the British slipped past them and ascended the river to within
six miles of Fort Montgomery. Here the water was eighty feet

5°6

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Great Chain as it was called. The work was now transferred to
New Windsor, where the chevaux-de-frise for the Plum Point to
Pollopel’s Island obstruction was in progress. It took 141 days to
reconstruct the chain, and not until April 20 was it ready to be placed
into the river. There it remained with no further damages occur¬
ring for nearly six months, when the British severed it in October,
1777.

If the garrisons at the “Twin Forts” in the Highlands had been
better fortified, and reinforcements had come to aid the militia in
its defense of the forts, the enemy might not, if they had met
defeat, have attempted to break through the chain and ascend the
river. As the militia from various Hudson River precincts were
preparing to defend Forts Montgomery and Clinton, Governor
George Clinton, too, having prorogued the Legislature at King¬
ston, hastened there by water. General James Clinton, his brother,
a more experienced soldier, had been for weeks at the lower garri¬
son, Fort Clinton, endeavoring to strengthen the posts by arousing
the authorities as to their weakness. In spite of his efforts, however,
General Israel Putnam, in command of the Highlands, had aug¬
mented, by a considerable number of reinforcements, General
Gates’ army at the north.

The British, under the personal command of Sir Henry Clin¬
ton, demanded immediate surrender. This Governor Clinton
refused to do, absolutely. The battle began about two o’clock in the
afternoon of October 6 and continued until darkness covered the
scene; the fighting was desperate. The American forces, num¬
bering from five to six hundred, faced a force of at least three
thousand, before whom they finally made a scattered retreat, leav¬
ing behind over three hundred killed, wounded or prisoners. The
forts were destroyed and a few days thereafter the British had no
difficulty in severing the chain in their ascent of the river to King¬
ston, which the enemy reduced to ashes on the sixteenth.

The capture of Burgoyne’s army at Saratoga changed the
enemy’s plans of operation, and returning to New York the British
made no further attempt to gain possession of the river. The fol¬
lowing year, 1778, the West Point and Constitution Island chain
was constructed, the iron surpassing in strength that used at Fort
Montgomery. What fortune the British would have experienced

ORANGE COUNTY

507

in overcoming the West Point chain is problematical. It was not
floated down the river to the Point from the forge in New Windsor
until the first of May, 1778. The county, however, furnished the
iron, it coming from the Sterlington Iron Works, from the “Long
Mine” west of Tuxedo, and from the Forest of Dean Mine near
Fort Montgomery. A specimen of this Hudson River obstruction
may be examined at the museum at Washington’s Headquarters at
Newburgh.

Added to the obstruction in the way of chains were other
means and devices designed to prevent the enemy’s ascent of the
river ; among these were firerafts, which, joined to old sloops filled
with combustibles, were to prey upon the British ships. It is said
that they were dreaded by the English far more than either the
shore batteries or the obstructions of the chain, boom, or chevaux-
de-frise. Still another line of defense was a system of beacon
signals which served by night to warn the militia of the approach
of the enemy. Butter Hill (Storm King) gave the signal for the
Highlands section and upon its first faint glimmer, the Beacons
would respond by similar pyres.

The beginnings of the American Revolution gave the people of
Orange County living to the west of the Hudson River less imme¬
diate concern than the inhabitants bordering on the river. Not
that they were less in concert with the principles at stake, but they
had less to fear from attacks, the result being that when the theater
of war came closer to the Hudson Valley certain families, if they
did not remove their valuables into the interior of the county,
moved there themselves until the immediate danger was over.
There is in Newburgh today a slipper-foot drop-leaf table with a
romantic history. No less personages than Sir William Johnson
and Chief Hendrick of the Mohawks are said to have dined at this
table when visiting its owner, Roger Magragh, in his New York
City home. Through descent it found its way to Newburgh and
when the British came up the river on their way to Kingston in
October, 1777, the table with other articles was hidden for safety
in the woods to the west of the King’s Highway.

With no further attempts to sail up the river on the part of
the British, warfare so far as the county was concerned was shifted
into what were earlier known as the back settlements. In the

ORANGE COUNTY

509

Colonial period this section of the county had more or less been
disturbed by Indian raids. In the fall of 1763 we find Charles
Clinton, of New Windsor, writing to his son James, then at Fort
Pitt, that the people were alarmed by reports of the approach of
Indians attacking the frontiers. At this time the Esopus regiment
had parties out to range and guard the inhabitants of the more
remote sections.

By the summer of 1779, with the withdrawal of Count Pulaski
and his expert horsemen from Pennpack to South Carolina, the
Minisink Valley was left without adequate protection. So long as
the Count and his horsemen were in the valley the people felt per¬
fectly secure. His men were unique marksmen, trained like their
kinsmen of medieval times. One of their tests of horsemanship
was casting into the air beyond them a javelin and catching it with¬
out reducing their speed.

Joseph Brant (Thayendananegea), the Mohawk war chief,
taking advantage of the unprotected situation of this region of the
county and adjacent territory, together with a cohort of his Tory
allies, intensified their campaign of pillage and murder, which
culminated in the battle of the Minisink. The first sign of the
descent of Brant into the valley was when smoke began to rise
from the scattered settlement; later, it was discovered that over
twenty buildings were destroyed — barns, mills, and a church, not
to mention numerous cabins, as well as larger dwellings.

Some of the women and children had escaped to the forts;
others, hopelessly were wounded; still others had been captured
and were taken by Brant. A few of the intended victims of the
Mohawk chief's raid reached Goshen and carried the news to
Colonel Benjamin Tusten, who at once ordered the militia under
his command to meet the following day at the storehouse of Major
Decker. In the meantime the news of the raid had spread to War¬
wick and other nearby communities. Under Colonel John Hathorn,
the forces, 149 strong, or rather weak, were augmented. As
senior officer he took command, and soon the militia were on their
way to follow up the vanishing Brant and his savage warriors.

At the Half-way Brook (now Barry ville) the number of Indian
fires dismissed any doubt as to the superiority of the enemy’s
strength. After another council some were opposed to continuing

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

510

the pursuit because of insufficient numbers. The more rash among
them, however, overruled this questionable expediency, and under
the tension of the flourishing sword of Major Decker, who shouted,
“Let the brave men follow me. The cowards may stay behind,”
there now was no turning back.

Brant, however, was able to bring into play his astute strata¬
gem; passing up a ravine beside a dry brook he brought up his
forces in Hathorn’s rear. This cut off a contingent force upon
which Hathorn was relying. It was ten o’clock in the morning
when the siege began. Before a shot was fired, however, Brant
appeared in plain sight of the Americans, and told them that his
forces were superior to theirs; that if they would surrender he
would protect them. The suggestion was answered by a militia
man’s ball which passed through Brant’s belt. The intrepid sol¬
dier withdrew within his own lines ; no further quarter was given.
The fighting was intense, the odds being greatly in favor of the
Indians, which the result later showed.

Forty-three years after the battle of the Mini sink the citizens
of Goshen began a long neglected duty, that of assembling the
bones of those patriots and heroes who died in the service of their
country, and which had lain upon the ground for these many years
sheltered only by debris and underbrush. What remained of the
forty-four killed were brought tenderly to Goshen and laid
beneath a monument dedicated to their memory on July 22, 1822,
before a concourse of some fifteen thousand people. One of the
orators of the occasion was the venerable John Hathorn, who had
led the militia on that memorable day in 1779.

As the war continued it is a mistake to think that funds were
not solicited to further prosecute the contest against the Mother
Country. For example, on May 20, 1780, a letter was sent to
Patrick Barber, Esq., and Dr. David Galatian, of Hanover pre¬
cinct, Orange County, asking for aid in meeting the financial obli¬
gations of the war. Because the appeal corresponds to the liberty
loans of the First World War and to the war bonds of the present
global struggle, we give it here as it was signed by the President
of the State Senate, Pierre Van Cortlandt, and the Speaker of the
New York Assembly, Evert Bancker:

ORANGE COUNTY

“Gen".

“We have recd authentic Intelligence that a consider¬
able Land & Naval Force is dayly expected from France,
and Congress have made a requisition upon the several
States for moneys to be paid immediately in order to put
our army in a Condition effectually to Co-operate with our
allies. The Exigence will not admit of the slow operation
of a Tax or the Formality of a Law for a loan, and the
Taxes as they from time to time come into the Treasury
are Anticipated to discharge past contracts. We have
therefore had recourse to the patriotism of Individuals
and for that purpose have opened Subscriptions of which
you have one Inclosed.

“This Subscription we must entreat you to promote &
offer it to every person in Hanover precinct whom you
may suppose to have ability and Inclination to Subscribe.
By the Terms of the Subscription you will observe that
the money is to be paid within six months or a Year, at
the Option of the respective Lenders with Interest at
six percent per annum, and Secured against a further
depreciation.

“We are authorized to give the fullest assurance, that
the Legislature will before they adjourn make effectual pro¬
vision for the punctual discharge of this debt and also
provide that if any of the Subscribers shall become pur¬
chasers of the forfeited Lands they may have Credit upon
such purchases for the sums subscribed with the Interest
due thereon.

“We must request you to use your Influence with the
Subscribers to pay the money upon or shortly after Sub¬
scribing in which case you will receive the money and pass
your Receipts untill Subscription Rolls can be returned,
when you will be furnished with proper Treasury notes in
order to Cancell your Receipts, and within fourteen days
from this date a messenger will wait upon you with an
order from the Treasurer for the Subscription Rolls and
the moneys you may have collected.

512

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

“It is Intended that no Subscription shall be taken for
a less sum than four hundred dollars. You will be allowed
your expenses. Congress in their Letter communicating
this Important Intelligence declare ‘That the Sums they
require is necessary to put our army in motion and observe
that this armament, from France Generously calculated
either to produce a diversion in our favor, or to forward
the Operation of our army by being directed to the same
objects, may either by our exertions be made the means
of delivering our Country in the Consequent Campaign
from the Ravages of War or being rendered Ineffectual
through our Supineness, serve only to sully the reputa¬
tion of our arms, to defeat the benevolent Intention of our
Great Ally, and to disgrace our Confederacy in the Eyes
of all Europe.’

“In short if ever there was a period in the war which
called for Virtue and Spirit, it is the present. You doubt¬
less have the same Conviction and therefore we flatter our¬
selves with your utmost & Immediate Exertions.

“By order of the Senate,

Pierre VanCortlandt
“By order of the Assembly
“Evert Bancker

“May 20, 1780 “Speaker.”

The period following the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at
Yorktown, and especially during -the last eight months of the War
of the American Revolution, is one of unique significance, and one
also which has not been portrayed sufficiently by American his¬
torians. In so succinct a narrative it is impossible to delineate it here,
except to point out two or three high spots of General Washing¬
ton’s life while he was a citizen of Newburgh for a longer time than
he resided at any other army headquarters during the entire war.

At the old Hasbrouck House in Newburgh he created the Mili¬
tary Order of the Purple Heart, with which after ordering a care¬
ful investigation he honored three Connecticut sergeants, Elijah
Churchill, William Brown and Daniel Bissell, in recognition of
exceptional military exploits. Here also he received the famous

ORANGE COUNTY

5i3

so-called Crown letter from Colonel Lewis Nicola, whom General
Washington rebuked for having even entertained such views as
he expressed in the nature of preferring a monarchy to a republi¬
can form of government. Nicola sent a second communication to
the commander-in-chief apologizing for having written so freely
and advising the general that the thoughts expressed were his own
in every particular.

In Newburgh, also, General Washington penned his famous
public letter to the governors of the several states, a paper, while

(Courtesy of The Historical Society of Newburgh Bay aiid the Highlands)

Washington Headquarters, Newburgh

designed as a last official communication to the heads of the respec¬
tive states, in reality contained in suggestion and scope the kernel
of his mature judgment in respect to the Nation about to be devel¬
oped out of the welter of war. Around four cardinal points he
elaborated his views which later served as the basis of the archi¬
tectural structure of the future republic. Perhaps no document of

S.E.N.Y. — 33

The Famous DeWitt Map

ORANGE COUNTY

5i5

the period better demonstrated Washington’s fitness for the task
which was destined to devolve upon him, that of leading the infant
Nation in its first steps on the road to nationality.

Beginning with “an indissoluble union of the states under one
federal head,” he passes to “a sacred regard to public justice,”
“the adoption of a proper peace establishment,” and to “a pacific
and friendly disposition among the people of the states, which will
induce them to forget their local prejudices and policies; to make
mutual concessions, and to sacrifice individual advantages to the
interests of the community.” “These are the pillars,” he con¬
tinues, “on which the glorious fabric of our independence and
national character must be supported. Liberty is the basis; and
•whoever would dare to sap the foundations, to overthrow the struc¬
ture, will merit the bitterest execution and the severest punishment
which can be inflicted by his injured country.”

Although held in abeyance so far as the development of the
issue was concerned, the division of party lines as later expanded
in this country had its inception while the army was still en¬
camped in the town of New Windsor, three or four miles to the
southwest of Newburgh on the Hudson. It grew out of a condi¬
tion prevalent at this time between the views of the army and of
Congress, and evoked marked dissension and animated discussion
among the officers and creditors of the Continental army.

The story of the famous meeting at the Temple in New Wind¬
sor, Washington’s masterful anti-military dictatorship speech,
which quelled a rising dissatisfaction in the army over the pay
question, then uppermost in the public mind, is to be treated in
another part of this history. It is not usually revealed, however,
that among the leaders who instigated the first call for the Temple
meeting, which General Washington postponed four days, was
especially Major John Armstrong, who wrote the so-called New¬
burgh or New Windsor addresses, and endeavored further to incite
disruption and to have the army and interested parties reverse their
positions as recorded at the Temple on March 15, 1783. He even
journeyed to Philadelphia, the seat of government, and spent some
time there endeavoring to reopen the issue, but in the end failed.
In letters to General Gates, still with the army in New Windsor.

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

516

with whom Armstrong kept in touch, we have abundant proof of
his efforts along this line.

The two diametrically opposite trends of political thought
which emerged into clear lines at the cabinet table of Washington,
with Hamilton taking one side, Jefferson the other, started when
the army was about to disband with no concerted plan by Congress
to do justice to the public creditors and to make provision to pay

(Courtesy of The Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands )

Revolutionary Army Camp Ground, New Windsor

the debt the country owed the soldiers who had heretofore been
exceedingly patient, notwithstanding their dire necessities. One
group stood for the establishment of a general tax, creating a
revenue to be subject to disposal by Congress. The other view or
party considered this revenue as dangerous to liberty. Those
holding this view contended that the states alone, not Congress,
should have the exclusive authority to levy taxes or duties.

ORANGE COUNTY

While this division of opinion was in progress the time came
for the disbandment of the American Army on Temple Hill, near
Newburgh. Fears arose lest the troops go unpaid, hence the spirit
of unrest, and the Armstrong letters which followed in quick suc¬
cession. Temple Hill, in Orange County, therefore, shares with
Philadelphia as one of the contending centers of current political
expression; and in that day partisan feeling ran high, so high,
indeed, that a faction would have used the army to enforce its will.

. - :

‘

■■■

CHAPTER V

Transportation

CHAPTER V

7 ransportation

The rivers and waterways naturally were the first means of
transportation, but inhabitants of the interior of the county, how¬
ever early their influx, soon discovered Indian trails through the
unbroken forests and along the valleys and over the hills. “It is
admirable to see,” wrote Roger Williams in 1642-43, “what paths
their naked hardened feet have made in the wilderness in most
stony and rocky places.”

With the exception of “The Old Mine Road” running from
below the Delaware in Pennsylvania to Kingston, then called
Esopus, an approximate distance of one hundred miles, constructed
probably by a company of miners from Holland when the Dutch
controlled New York, the earliest roads in the county were evolved
out of extremely crooked and narrow Indian trails. These could
be seen from the banks of the Hudson and the Delaware ; naturally,
they ran between the Indian villages at first.

With the coming of the white man to the county the turns and
curves gradually were taken out of the old trails and later roads,
and this process has been going on to the present day whenever new
highways and by-passes are to be constructed. At the outset the
county seemed to avail itself more of its abundance of fine material
out of which to build roads than it does at present. The repair and
upkeep of the old roads throughout the county were provided by
an assessment levied on each property owner to work the roads
nearest his land so many days per year, which usually was done
either by employing his own team, or getting the work done by
outside help. Each farmer having a personal interest in the main¬
tenance of good roads, willingly, as a rule, complied with such
required duties.

522

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

To catch a glimpse of the several directions of early roads we
must bear in mind and visualize the extent of territory over which
they traversed, and the particular situation of the county. The
first on its northeastern border was the important route from
Kingston to New Paltz, then the nearest settled region between
the Highlands and Kingston; from the Huguenot settlement of
New Paltz the road ran southeasterly to the Palatine parish of
Quassaick. This road was known as the “King’s Highway,” or
public road. In Newburgh it later was called Liberty Street, but
the town records mention it as “The Main Road,” “The Albany
Road,” etc. North of Newburgh the road branched off in an
extension to Marlborough, running to the mill and dock of Wol-
vert Acker at Hampton, where a ferry connected the west side
of the Hudson with Wappinger’s Falls in Dutchess County. On its
way from Newburgh it passed in the vicinity of the Dans Kammer,
where one of the Palatine immigrants, Melchior Gulchs, or Gilles,
as the name also was spelled, secured a patent. Thus this farthest
north settler among the German Protestants had road communica¬
tion with his kindred faith at the Quassaick.

The old Goshen Road intersecting the King’s Highway after
reaching Goshen ran west to the Pennpack settlements on the
Delaware, where it joined the Old Mine Road, to which we have
already alluded. There was another King’s Highway, or Public
Road, from Shawangunk running through Montgomery or Wards
Bridge, thence through Florida and Warwick into New Jersey. A
fifth road ran from New Windsor through Little Britain over to
the Wallkill, connecting there wtih the Shawangunk Road. A
branch of this road ran from Wallkill to Newburgh. Nearly all of
the early roads in the eastern end of the county converged at New
Windsor, owing to her location, which gave her at first commercial
supremacy. Newburgh, being to the north, could look for her
trade only from routes to the north and northwest, except from
the road which ran from the Hudson at Newburgh through Col-
denham to Montgomery, an enterprise of the Coldens of Coldenham.

Precisely when each of these old roads was opened would be at
this date impossible to determine ; probably the settlement of their
respective regions brought them into existence. It is perfectly cor¬
rect to assume they did not exist prior to a demand for them.

ORANGE COUNTY

523

Whatever may have been their relation to the original Indian trails
or however they may have diverged from these more ancient paths,
the old roads were replete with historic interest. The feet of
patriots trod them from the days of the French and Indian War
to the Revolution. Some of them led into deep gorges beside the
purring murmur of mountain streams threading their way to
larger bodies of water; others wound over high elevations difficult

(Courtesy of The Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands )

Colden House, Montgomery

of ascent, as when the militia of Warwick and vicinity encountered
Brant and his Tory allies at the battle of the Minisink.

If the old roads of Orange County could speak they indeed
would have many a thrilling tale to tell. To add to their interest,
persons now renowned in history caught glimpses of their scenic
beauty, their rugged routes, their umbrageous paths, and when
travelers could go no farther on a day’s journey they would put up
at the first convenient inn along the route.

524

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Till recently the manner of General Washington’s arrival at
Newburgh, April i, 1782, has not been known. It appears that the
General and Lady Washington came to Newburgh by way of
Ridgewood, New Jersey. At the general’s request an escort of
fifty men acted as his personal guard. They joined his party, Lady
Washington riding in a coach as was her custom, where the new
road from Ridgewood formed a junction with the Clove Road.
Captain Trotter and his company started for this rendezvous on
the night of March 28, so General Washington’s arrival presents
a more colorful picture than we hitherto have had of his entrance
into Newburgh.

At the turn of the nineteenth century much road construction
was undertaken. In March, 1801, for example, the Cochecton
Turnpike Road Company was organized with a capital of $126,000
for the purpose of opening up a commercial route from the Hud¬
son to the Delaware River. This enterprise was of great impor¬
tance in stimulating trade which extended far into the interior of
the county. Thus, for the first time, direct communication from
the southern tier of counties to New York by way of the Delaware
was obtained.

This turnpike, and others which followed, witnessed many an
adventure and romance, for squires and ladies traveled over their
thoroughfares. At certain intervals were what were termed sta¬
tions by some; inns, by others, which extended their hospitality,
where warmth, good cheer and piquant anecdotes vied with whole¬
some food. Along this artery of trade might have been seen
droves of cattle bound for the New York market, driven thither by
stalwart drivers.

In the same year that the Newburgh-Cochecton Turnpike Com¬
pany was organized, the New Windsor & Blooming Grove Turn¬
pike Company was incorporated, with a capital of $75,000 and
twelve directors. Three years later the stockholders sent a peti¬
tion and bill to the Legislature, “stating their grievances and pray¬
ing an alteration of said act.” The grievance, in particular, related
to the making of roads round the toll gates with the intention, as
the stockholders assumed, of “defrauding” the company. A road,
it seems, was worked round the “gate to correspond with the creek
road, so that the greater part of the teams go round the gate and

ORANGE COUNTY

525

follow said road without a possibility of detecting them, as the
roads join each other out of sight of the gate house.” In the said
petition other grievances were stated, such as “breaking mile¬
stones, digging up the road, tearing up the bridges, etc.” Robert
R. Burnet, then member of the Assembly from Orange County,
was the representative to whom John Nicoll stated the above facts.

In the days of which we are writing toll gates were numerous
throughout Orange County. At this late day there is no means of

Elting Cuddeback House, Port Jervis

calculating the amount of tolls received in any single year, nor for
any particular month, unless such statement has been preserved.
Fortunately, such a statement is in existence, being the receipt of
tolls of Gate 4 of N and E Plank Road, ending for the month of
November, 1851. Such a document today is of interest. For
November 1, 1851, there were fourteen two-horse teams which
paid toll, thirty-three one-horse wagons and one horse and rider.
The day’s receipts were $2.64. The following day the revenue was

526

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

only fifty-seven cents. Between $2.50 to a trifle over $3.00 a day
was the average amount collected daily in tolls for the month of
November, 1851. Occasionally, it exceeded $4.00. The highest
for any single day in the month was on the twenty-fifth, when
horse teams paid toll to the amount of $4.90. That day thirty-eight
two-horse teams were recorded and thirty single horse wagons.
Horse and rider seemed to be few and far between. During the
entire month only twelve are recorded. Perhaps the individuals
crossed lots or fields belonging to neighbors, as they were said to
have done on occasion, or perhaps they pursued the road around
the toll gate, such as we have read of in the complaint above. The
total for the entire month, however, amounted to 477 two-horse
teams and 624 single-horse vehicles. Total receipts were $71.40.

To return to the county’s turnpikes. In point of date, one,
however, preceded the Newburgh and Cochecton Turnpike of 1801 ;
that of the Orange Turnpike, 1800. Six years later permission
was granted by the Legislature to extend the southern part of this
turnpike to the New Jersey line, and further to construct a new
road from the northern part of said turnpike to the intersection of
the Warwick Road near the village of Chester, the entire construc¬
tion remaining under the name of the Orange Turnpike.

The Newburgh & Chenango Turnpike Road Company was
incorporated in 1805, with an authorized stock to the amount of
$126,000. This road especially interested those who had been
given military tracts as a reward for services rendered in the
American Revolutionary Army. Some sold their lands for nomi¬
nal sums which were bought up by men better able financially to
retain and develop such enterprises. These tracts were divided
into lots which were numbered. The following facts were taken
from a contemporary account book in the year 1793. The amount
of land sought ran from fifty acres to five hundred acres. One
man wanted to secure the S. W. quarter, or 150 acres of lot No.
96. He was willing to go as high as twelve shillings per acre, and
no more. Another man was willing to sell his fifty-acre lot for
$50 cash and give a refusal of it for six weeks. Thus a turnpike
to open up these lands was of particular interest to people involved.

In 1809 came the Minisink and Montgomery Turnpike Road,
and many others followed throughout the next score of years, the

ORANGE COUNTY

527

list being completed with the Otisville Turnpike Company, chartered
February 19, 1828. To go into the history of each one would
extend our narrative far beyond our present limits.

Later, in the late forties and early fifties, came what were
known as the North and the South Plank roads out of Newburgh.
Their names were derived from the situation to the town. The
word “Plank” was used because the roads were planked by green
logs. The expense of maintenance was met by toll gates erected
at certain distances apart; and we already have seen the amount
taken in at one of these toll gates in a single month. Many remem¬
ber to this day the several taverns located along the routes of these
county roads. For example, “The Swamp Tavern” was on the
South Plank Road; “Mud Tavern” was on the North Plank Road.
In 1853 two other plank roads were constructed, namely, the Mid¬
dletown and Bloomingburg Plank Road and the Middletown and
Unionville Plank Road, each with a capital stock of $30,000.

Overland stagecoaches were among the first means of trans¬
portation. Perhaps the first stage line on the west side of the
Hudson running through Orange County was conducted by
Anthony Dobbin and James Tustin, of Goshen. They were

granted, in 1797, an exclusive right to run stages between Goshen
. and New York. When a later stagecoach line was established
along the west side of the Hudson River, the proprietors could not
charge more than “5 cents for every mile. The fare from Hobo¬
ken to Albany was $8.00,” stops being made in Goshen, Wards
Bridge (Montgomery), Kingston, Catskill and Coxsackie. No
further development in service west of the river was made until
1814, when a new line of four-horse stages was organized to run
tri-weekly. This is when Newburgh was included in the route.
Another well-known route to the west from the river branched off
at Newburgh and ran by the way of Monticello to the Delaware
River, then on through to Binghamton and Owego. This was one
of the earliest means of bringing prosperity to the eastern section
of the county, for it not only provided a route hitherto unopened,
but an outlet for herds, grain and other commodities of the upper
Delaware and Susquehanna valleys.

After the stage line between New York and Goshen was estab¬
lished, 1797, a stage began running between Newburgh and Goshen

528

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

by way of Montgomery. Tuesday and Friday were stage days,
and according to an advertisement: “All persons wishing a pas¬
sage to or from said places, must apply either to Edward Howell of
Newburgh, Widow Smith of Montgomery, or to Coe Gale of
Goshen. ” In the same newspaper the public was informed that a
stage owned by Shibboleth Bogardus would run from the landing
of Fishkill to Fishkill town. This for the first time opened up a
complete communication from Goshen to “the stage line which
ran from New York to Albany, and elsewhere.” It appears that
fourteen pounds weight of baggage was exempt from stage fare.
All above was in proportion to the weight of a passenger at 140.

As little is known of “Stage Coach Days” as of any of our his¬
tory, probably because for some reason one took them as a matter
of course, the same as we take our modern travel today ; so we find
few descriptions of them. From old newspapers, however, we get
their routes, and the schedule of their rates. In the 1820s stages
from Newburgh to Canandaigua made three trips a week. It took
three days to make the journey in summer and four days in winter.
So limited were the accommodations that people were advised to
get their tickets in advance. 1

Occasionally, one comes across a vivid description of an experi¬
ence encountered in this type of travel. Once, out of Little Falls,
the driver of a stagecoach came to a hill by the bank of a river. It
appears that General Winfield Scott was one of the passengers,
and as the coach began to descend the hill the driver noticed a
sharp turn in the road near the bottom of the hill, a wagon slowly
winding its way up diagonally. A disastrous collision seemed
inevitable, so the driver quickly guided the team over the precipice
and into the river, from which the horses and passengers were
transported safely to the bank of the stream. The driver received
from the passengers a handsome present for his quick thoughtful¬
ness and equally quick courage. The stages sometimes were gaily
painted, and this seemed to react in gay traveling moods.

The big event in the early 1850s was the construction of the
Erie Railroad, followed gradually by its various links, which
eventually intersected and bisected the entire county. The first
attempt to connect the county of Orange with the coal mines of
Pennsylvania was suggested in 1829, when the Legislature created

ORANGE COUNTY

529

by Act “a body corporate and politic by the name of the Hudson
and Delaware Railroad Company,” designed to construct a single
or double railroad from Newburgh through the county to the Dela¬
ware River. Commissioners even were appointed to open sub¬
scriptions, but three years having elapsed with no effort to build
the said road, the Act of the Legislature became void.

No further effort along this line was made until September,
1835, when a body of citizens met in Newburgh for the purpose of
proposing that a union take place between the Hudson & Dela¬
ware road with that of the New York & Erie. During the finan¬
cial depression of 1837 work was suspended on both the Erie and
the Delaware, after some grading already had been done the pre¬
vious year. Owing to a division of sentiment and proffers on the
part of local interests, the details of which need not detain us, the
main line of the Erie to Binghamton was opened in December,
1848. The Newburgh branch to Chester was completed in the fol¬
lowing year. So-called paper railroads at this time were prevalent.
A road would be advocated, stock in many instances raised, then
through lack of initiative, abandoned. Although surveys had been
made years before the Civil War, the O. & W. Railroad was not
undertaken until 1865; ground was not broken until the fall of
1869; the laying of track began in 1870, and the last spike was
driven in the summer of 1873. Thus within two score of years the
old methods of travel had been completely superseded by a more
rapid transit.

In any history of Orange County, however restricted in scope,
a word must be said with regard to the Delaware & Hudson Canal,
which touched the county on the north at Cuddebackville and ran
through the town of Deerpark to Port Jervis. It was incorpo¬
rated in 1823, begun in 1825, and opened in 1828. It passed
through numerous vicissitudes, because first of all the cost of the
canal had been underestimated ; secondly, the demand for coal did
not come up to expectation, and what was transported was at first
of poor quality. Stock which had cost $100 sunk to from $60 to
$70 and even at that was a drug on the market. What made it
worse, no dividends were paid. Even the legisltures were besought

S.E.N.Y. — 34

530

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

to put the company out of business. But with changed manage¬
ment the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company eventually paid off
its debt and its original good name was restored. The bed of the
old canal can still be seen in the town of Deerpark at the present
day. Dwelling houses were furnished to the tenders of the various
locks. Benjamin W. Eaton, once a member of the famous Com-
mander-in-Chief’s Life Guard of the Revolutionary War, was sta¬
tioned at Lock 53.

Original Cuddeback Home, Godeffroy

Sloops plied between New York and Newburgh for some time
anterior to the Revolutionary War. So early as 1767 such a com¬
mercial route had been started. During the war, and especially
after the British held New York, they naturally were discontinued.
On occasion sloops were used to convey troops, as when soldiers
were carried to Albany to reenforce General Horatio Gates.
Sloops continued to be the only means of transportation by water
until about 1830, when steamboats were introduced.

ORANGE COUNTY

53i

Subject to wind and tide, their schedule was uncertain. In a
contemporary notebook in possession of the author we find the actual
time it took for two trips from Albany to New York and return in
the year 1793. The first boat was called Jacob Cuyler’s sloop. It
left Albany on Saturday, August 3, and that day only two and one-
half miles were made. The following day the sloop was only eight
miles from Albany. On the fifth it reached Hudson, the sixth
Poughkeepsie, the seventh Haverstraw, and on the eighth arrived
at New York, taking six days for the trip. The return trip was
made in Captain Leaman’s sloop. Leaving New York at twelve
o’clock August 10, that day got as far as Stony Point. On the
eleventh it had reached Esopus; the following day Kinderhook,
and on Tuesday the thirteenth, at one o’clock in the afternoon, got
to Albany, the trip taking less than four full days.

Old newspaper files occasionally mention the loss of some sloop,
as for example, that of the “Neptune,” which while on her way
from New York to Newburgh, a short distance below Pollopel’s
Island, was upset, filled rapidly and sunk. The “Neptune” is said
to have had on board from fifty to fifty-five passengers, a majority
of whom were drowned. Seventeen persons were rescued by one
or two oyster boats which chanced to be nearby, while other river
craft came to the assistance of the sinking vessel. The high winds
and filling of the boat caused so high a toll of life. The tragic
accident occurred in the latter part of November, 1825, which,
owing to the time of year, intensified the distress of the passengers.

Five months before this fatal disaster, according to the “Politi¬
cal Index” of June 7, 1825, a meeting of sloop owners was held to
take under advisement the placing of a steamboat on the Newburgh
line. Selah Reeve was chairman and David Crawford secretary
of the meeting. After considerable discussion it was “Resolved,
that a committee, consisting of James Wiltsie, John P. De Wint,
Uriah Lockwood, John Wiltsie, Christopher Reeve and David
Crawford, be authorized to make necessary inquiry and obtain all
the information in their power relative to the building of a good
and sufficient steamboat or boats, for the purpose of conveying
freight or passengers from this village (Newburgh) and landings
adjoining.”

ORANGE COUNTY

533

The committee may have reported, but no immediate action was
taken. In fact, the project was not again considered until the
winter of 1829-30, when Christopher Reeve purchased the steamer
“Baltimore,” which was placed on the Newburgh line in the spring
of 1830. The wharf from which the steamer departed was that
of the Messrs. Reeve & D. Crawford & Company. The “Balti¬
more” is said to have been a popular river craft, and painters traced
her picture on many signboards.

This initiative step marked the beginning of steamboat trans¬
portation locally; other vessels soon followed, the “Legislature,”
“Providence” and “Highlander” among the number. At this time
boats departed from Newburgh to New York on Tuesdays, Wed¬
nesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. In the summer of
1846 the “Thomas Powell” was placed on the morning line, making
the trip in two hours and forty minutes running time.

Since the day of the “Thomas Powell” steamboat travel touch¬
ing the borders of Orange County has been so extensive that to do
justice to the subject would require far more space than we can
give in so succinct a study as is presented here. One boat, how¬
ever, must be mentioned; first, because of her long and popular
history; secondly, because she always was considered to be in a
sense personally identified with Newburgh in view of her name.
We refer to the “Mary Powell,” named in honor of the wife of
Thomas Powell, a prominent citizen of Newburgh.

Her history may be traced briefly as follows: The “Mary
Powell” was built and launched from Michael Allison’s shipyard
in Hoboken the morning of July 30, 1861. An account of the
launching declared that her proportions were similar to the “Bald¬
win,” in her day the “fleetest keel on the river”; only the “Mary
Powell” had twenty per cent, more power. For some sufficient
reason the “Mary Powell” did not make her first trip up the river
until October, 1861 ; after a number of runs that fall she was not
regularly put into service until the spring of 1862.

From that time on the “Mary Powell” was known as the Queen
of the Hudson; for years she plied between Kingston and New
York, and it was to the former place, or rather Rondout Creek, to
which she repaired to be junked, for what remained of her could
be seen at the lower end of the creek, near the West Shore tracks.

534

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

The “Powell’s*’ old bell may be seen at Indian Point, and in some
of the stables at the Point a number of her plate glass windows
with mahogany sash have been installed, the only case, we believe,
where horses look out through plate glass windows. The old
whistle of the “Powell” is used on the steamer “Robert Fulton,”
while some of her timbers have been converted into cabins. There
are people living who remember the time when the “Mary Powell”
was caught in a gale in Cornwall Bay and lost her smokestack, and
of how she successfully reached her port otherwise unharmed.

Boating on the Hudson off the shores of Orange County has
long ago lost its popularity for some unknown reason. But pleasure
yachting used to be a fascinating pastime. In the days of the
Warner sisters, one of whom wrote “The Wide, Wide World,”
from their home on Constitution Island, opposite West Point, the
river was alive with various kinds of sailing and steam craft. An
early description in the year 1835 gives us this picture:

“It was no easy matter to wind our way among the
small-craft and sloops, beating and tacking under what is
nautically termed a ‘cracking breeze.’ I counted more than
sixty of these trim river craft between West Point and
Newburgh, in a distance of eight miles. The passing of
the steamboats is an amusing sight and the landing always
creates a sensation among the natives and visitors.”

CHAPTER VI

From the Revolution to the Civil IV ar

CHAPTER VI

From the Revolution to the Civil Wt ir

The Revolutionary War made great inroads upon the resources
of the people of the country. After eight years of warfare it was
not easy for the average soldier who had known only army life for
so long to adapt himself to peacetime activities. Many did not
know which way to turn, and some did not attempt to seek their
former homes, but remained, after receiving their furlough papers,
which ultimately amounted to a discharge, in the neighborhood of
the camp, either in Newburgh or New Windsor, married, and
began life anew. Baron Steuben, whose headquarters during the
last months of the war was situated a little north of Fishkill Land¬
ing, in the Verplanck House, and who witnessed the departure of
many a soldier, is credited with having been very kind and generous
to them. In the street one day the Baron discovered Colonel John
Cochrane, one of the late hospital doctors, lamenting over his lack
of finances. Endeavoring to comfort him by averring that better
times would come, Cochrane said : “For myself, I can stand it ;
but my wife and daughters are in the garret of that wretched tav¬
ern, and I have nowhere to carry them, nor even money to remove
them.” The Baron, touched, hastened to the family of Dr. Coch¬
rane, and poured the entire contents of his purse upon the table,
and left before they were able to protest or thank him. As he
walked toward the wharf a wounded negro soldier came up to the
Baron, and bitterly complained that he did not have the means to
carry him to New York. General Steuben borrowed a dollar,
handed it to the soldier, and saw him aboard the sloop.

The people were nearly as impoverished as the ex-soldiers. The
money they had was almost worthless, and while many possessed
lands, they had not the means for their profitable cultivation. Al-

538 SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

together it was a discouraging outlook, so much so, indeed, that in
1785 a memorial for relief took the form of a petition to the Leg¬
islature: “By reason of the necessary supplies which we have
afforded for the support of the late war,” it declared, “as likewise
from the depreciation of paper currency, and the unavoidable
losses incident to the said war, added to the large quantity of per¬
sonal service, which rendered it impossible for us to cultivate our
farms as usual, we are beconte so impoverished that we are unable

(Courtesy of Dudley Diemer)

The Verplanck House, North of Fishkill Landing, Baron Steuben’s Headquarters

to pay our just debts, and, through the scarcity of specie, we are
unable upon the credit of our lands to hire money for the purpose
aforesaid; the frequent and many law suits in justice’s and other
courts, the enormous costs that accrue on small debts, issuing
executions, taking effects and selling the same for not near the
value, oppresses and reduces many poor families to the want of the
necessities of life, that nothing remains to us* in prospect but
unavoidable ruin, unless we are relieved by the wisdom of the
legislature.”

ORANGE COUNTY

539

This petition, signed by sixty-eight persons, was similar to
numerous formal prayers of like tenor from other sections, which
resulted in an Act passed April 18, 1786, entitled “An Act for
emitting the sum of two hundred thousand Pounds in Bills of
Credit.” Those receiving them were aided by a mortgage being
placed on their real estate, which not only saved them from bank¬
ruptcy, but enabled them to resume long-suspended business
operations.

Gradually, each separate community in the county began to
expand, some naturally more rapidly than others, because of more
favorable conditions. For example, before the war, New Wind¬
sor, owing to the commercial activities of the Ellisons, absorbed
the entire business interests of the district, but the war time and
later circumstances began to favor Newburgh as having greater
advantages. So the latter grew at the expense of the former, and
ultimately included a city. The population of the two towns can be
contrasted by the census of 1782: Newburgh, 1,487; New Wind¬
sor, 1,132. In 1875 the population of Newburgh, city and town,
was 20,860, as compared in that year of 2,455 f°r New Windsor.

Owing to the confiscation of the property in New York by the
Crown of those refugees who were compelled to remove from the
city when the British occupied it in 1776, many who had sought
Orange County for a home remained after the war was over. This
tended to augment the population of the county, and these people
were more contented, perhaps, when they found out that under the
terms of the treaty restoration of lands was not possible.

The history of the county in its respective towns and villages,
while locally important to each community, cannot be regarded as
of historical significance, except as its life helped to delineate a pic¬
ture of the period. Since 1777, however, when the State Consti¬
tution was adopted, politics and electioneering never failed at their
appointed season to be of paramount concern to the citizens gen¬
erally. As communication was carried on largely through letters,
and as many of these have been preserved, interesting sidelights
may be observed. As is yet the case, many men looked to the leader
or leaders of their district to advise them politically. As early as
April, 1783, a voter, Arthur Parks, living at Wards Bridge, and

540

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

evidently an Anti-Federalist in sentiment, wrote to Dr. Charles
Clinton, brother of the Governor, as follows :

‘Aesterday Colonel Johannes Jansen called on me to
know what we intended to do about electioneering ; he had
received several letters from the upper end of the County
requesting him to inform them whom they should vote for
among us. The supervisors are to meet at Ann DuBois’
(New Paltz) next Friday and it is thought advisable to let
our Supervisor know what some of our leading men judge
most likely to promote the public good. It is proposed to
have a meeting at Wards Bridge (Montgomery) tomor¬
row in the afternoon. I sent a few lines to Colonel Nichol¬
son this morning. I hope you will attend and bring such
of your neighbors with you as you think proper. As the
election is for Governor, Lt. Governor, Senators and
Assemblymen, we ought to do our duty.”

The writer had the day before received letters from several men
in Kingston. This throws light on the method of conducting poli¬
tics immediately after the Revolutionary War. As the county was
overwhelmingly Anti-Federalist, the ticket put into the field by
them presaged success at the polls for that party.

The banking institutions of the county received their impetus
by the incorporation, by Act of the Legislature, passed March 22,
1811, of the Bank of Newburgh. This was the first bank in the
county. In 1820 The Branch Bank of Newburgh, at Ithaca, was
organized, only to be discontinued ten years later. The petitioners
for the Bank of Newburgh were Jacob Powell, John McAulay,
Chancy Belknap, and Jonathan Fisk. The capital named was
$120,000 in shares of $50 each, and the State reserved the right
to subscribe to the stock any amount not exceeding one thousand
shares.

The Newburgh Bank was followed by the incorporation, April
6, 1813, of the Bank of Orange County at Goshen. The Highland
Bank of Newburgh was incorporated April 26, 1834, at a capital
of $200,000. Under the general banking law of the State, passed
April 18, 1838, the Powell Bank of Newburgh was organized that
same year; in 1839, the Middletown Bank; in 1857, the Wallkill

ORANGE COUNTY

54i

Bank of Middletown; in 1851, the Quassaick Bank of Newburgh,
the Bank of Port Jervis, the Bank of Chester, and the Goshen
Bank were organized. In 1852 the Newburgh Savings Bank was
incorporated. Since the last named year banks have been organ¬
ized in every part of the county, a number too numerous to men¬
tion in so brief an outline of the county’s history.

The county early began to attract manufacturing interests, and
according to Williams’ “New York Register” for 1834, the reader

The Sweeney Truck in This Photograph Was the Second Truck Operated in

Middletown

will see the varied enterprises in the county as appear in the follow¬
ing list: In 1834 the manufacture of flannels at a factory located
at Walden was the most extensive of its kind in the State. Two
other factories were situated at Walden, one consuming around
one hundred twenty thousand pounds of cotton, which was made
up in sheeting; the other manufactured about thirty thousand
yards of low-priced broadcloths per annum. In addition to these,
in 1834, there was a woolen manufactory at Warwick, a number
of works for making iron from ore at Monroe, Craig’s paper
manufactory, and Oakley’s paper manufactory at Blooming Grove,
a cotton manufactory at Cornwall, a paper manufactory and pow-

542

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

der factory at Newburgh, and two woolen manufactories at Wall-
kill. These will give an idea of the growth of the county in manu¬
facturing interests alone during the first fifty years after the close
of the Revolutionary War. At present the county is replete with
manufacturing plants of every description, which the Second
World War has tended to increase, especially on its eastern border.

It may be noted here that in the years 1837 and 1838, according
to an old record, bricks were manufactured in Newburgh and vicin¬
ity on an extensive scale. The three establishments produced a
yearly output on an average of three millions each. There were six
smaller establishments to the north of the village of Newburgh
and, all combined, at the rate of $6.00 per thousand, amounted to
quite a sum. The material out of which these bricks were made
came from the clay hills of the immediate vicinity. A large iron
foundry operated by J. W. Wells, where numerous kinds of
machinery and castings were made, also was an important manu¬
facturing establishment of that day. The brewery of J. Beveridge,
manufacturer of ale, was reputed not to be excelled by any con¬
cern on the river, and twenty thousand barrels of this beverage
was produced annually.

Incorporated companies began to spring up in the early part of
the century. The Newburgh Whaling Company was incorporated
in January, 1832, to engage in the “whale fishery in the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans, and elsewhere, and in the manufacture of oil
and spermaceti candles.” Eventually the company built a large
storehouse in Water Street, near First Street, Newburgh, which
is still standing. The business was continued until 1837. The
enterprise, however, did not succeed as was expected. Receivers
were appointed, the property of the company in ships and building
was sold and, in 1840, the company ceased to exist, after having
returned the original subscriptions to the stockholders, in addition
to a small dividend upon their investment.

The Newburgh Gas-light Company was another enterprise
organized in 1851. The capital of this company was $65,000.
David Crawford, whose mansion in Montgomery Street in New¬
burgh is still standing, was elected president, and Judge J. J.
Monell, secretary and treasurer. Gas was first used in Newburgh
in September, 1852. Among the directors of the company were

ORANGE COUNTY

543

Homer Ramsdell, David Crawford, Ebenezer Ward Farrington
and John J. Monell.

Although the American Revolution had been over nearly thirty
years, Great Britain still attempted to maintain her influence over
America’s complete independence. Franklin was wiser than many
thought at the time, when upon being congratulated upon the vic¬
tory of his country in its struggle for independence, he declared:
“Say, rather, the war of the Revolution — the war for independ-

. ■Ms&£3mmi339Km

Ok.ftas site THOMAS ALVA EDISON

32 SS 32 ERECTED FOR THE EDISON ELECTRIC

Illuminating company of Newburgh one of

THE EARLIEST CENTRAL STATIONS IN HISTORY
AND ON MARCH 31, 1884 PUT IT INTO OPERATION
FOR SERVICE TO THE CHY OF NEWBURGH.

52 52 52 THIS TABLET IS ERECTED ON FT SL FT

THIS FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY TO COMMEMORATE

EDISON'S INVENTION OF THE INCANDESCENT LAMP

52 52 AND AS A TRIBUTE TO THOSE CITIZENS

WHOSE ENTERPRISE MADE ELECTRIC LIGHT

AVAILABLE AT ITS INCEPTION FOR THE USE

OF l.l-l I vS CITY. _

OCi OBER 21. 1929

(Courtesy of the Central Hudson Company )

Tablet Placed on Historic Edison Station of the Central Hudson Company,

Newburgh, in 1929

ence is yet to be fought.” Friction and disputes had been common
between the two governments, largely continued because of the
weakness of the one and the dominant strength of the other, which
culminated ultimately in the impressment of American seamen and
the contended right to search every vessel flying the flag of the
United States. Added to this infringement of her rights the young
American Nation was subjected to a further indignity to her com¬
merce; under the orders in council Great Britain desired that all
American vessels plying between the ports of France and her
allies, which had not at first cleared from an English port, should

544

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

be viewed lawful prizes. Confronted by this zealous and danger¬
ously adopted policy of England, America had no other alternative
but to challenge the pride of both nations by laying an embargo
upon all American vessels and merchandise. This Congress
resolved to do by prohibiting American vessels from sailing from
foreign ports, and all foreign ships from accepting American
cargo. This resolve on the part of Congress became effective
three years before war actually was declared, during which time
our commerce was largely suspended, our merchants on the verge
of bankruptcy and the patience of the people sorely tried. In the
meantime our little navy was occupied endeavoring to enforce the
embargo on the coast. By 1812 the tension had grown to such a
state by reason, among other things, of the fact that England had
communicated to the American President her intention of adhering
to her orders in council that nothing remained but for America
to declare war against England, which she did June 18, 1812.

The two political parties in the county at first were divided
upon the formal policy of the administration, and meetings were
held and resolutions passed. Upon the question of loyalty to the
country, however, there was a decided unity of sentiment, and
shortly after the declaration of war companies were organized in
various parts of the county, among them being, to name a few, the
Orange Hussars of Montgomery; Captain Kerr’s Company of
Artillery, New Windsor; Captain Butter worth’s Company of
Artillery, Newburgh; Captain Westcott’s Company of Cavalry,
Goshen; Captain Acker’s Company of Cavalry, Newburgh and
Marlborough ; and Captains Denniston’s and Birdsall’s Companies
of Infantry, Newburgh. At least two volunteer companies to
serve for one year or during the war, the Republican Blues and a
company from Warwick, were organized. Any number of vouch¬
ers are extant of this period where men received $50 as part pay¬
ment of a bounty for enlisting in the Army of the United States
for the duration of the war. Eight dollars, it appears, was given
as a premium to the person having secured the enlistment.

The county was represented also in the naval forces of the war
in the personages of Charles Ludlow, Augustus C. Ludlow, Silas
Horton Stringham and others. Lieutenant Augustus C. Ludlow
served under Captain Lawrence in the action of the British ship

ORANGE COUNTY

545

“Shannon.” His intrepid conduct and tragic death in that encoun¬
ter entitle his name to stand high on the roll of our naval history.
The detention in foreign ports of American vessels manned by
Orange men; the incarceration of crews, some of whom belonged
to the county, and the capture of Washington in 1814, all led to a
more concerted movement to defend unitedly the independence of
the country. Party spirit, if it existed at the outset, and in cases
it of course did, was quickly abandoned in an enthusiasm to serve

Franklin Square, Looking North Down Main Street, Middletown

the country. While the local companies were stationed on Staten
Island, the women of the county met in separate units to knit for
the soldiers on duty and on our northern frontiers; in Newburgh
alone, in December, 1812, a package for the soldiers was sent by
the women of Newburgh to Governor Daniel D. Tompkins con¬
taining 280 woolen stockings and eighty mittens.

Newspapers and books may be said to have had an early star^t
in Orange County, comparatively speaking. During the Revolu¬
tionary War Samuel Loudon’s “New York Packet” was published

S.E.N.Y. — 35

546

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

at Fishkill, and although it circulated rather widely in military cir¬
cles, it cannot be called, strictly speaking, a county newspaper. Not
until five years after the close of the war, 1788, did the county
actually have a newspaper of its own, the “Goshen Repository,” a
non-partisan paper, whose declaration of independence was that
“With gen’rous Freedom for our constant guide, We scorn Con¬
trol and print on ev’ry Side.” A file of consecutive copies of this
first Orange County newspaper is in existence, as is also the “New¬
burgh Packet,” the second paper to be published in the county, at
Newburgh. Copies of these old newspapers are the equal of their
contemporaries printed in New York. The rag paper upon which
papers of that day were printed and the ink used preserve far bet¬
ter than the paper of today. In many cases papers were established
as private ventures, or as agencies to promote the individual pros¬
pects of aspiring politicians. Besides advertisements and legal
notices there was little local news. Few papers of the earliest days
were more than a four-page affair, and when national public com¬
munications were taken care of little space remained for pertinent
matters of interest, although in very few cases were the muses
excluded.

With a change of ownership the name of a paper often would
be altered, as for example: The “Goshen Repository” was started
by David Mandeville and David M. Westcott in Goshen, as we
have seen, in 1788. Twelve years later it was sold to John G. and
William Heurtin, who changed the name to “The Orange County
Patriot.” A year later William Heurtin disposed of his interest
to Gabriel Denton. In 1803, Denton sold to William A. Carpen¬
ter, and its name was changed to “The Friend of Truth.” The
following year Ward M. Gazlay became its owner and once again
the name was changed from “The Friend of Truth” to “The
Orange Eagle.” So in sixteen years the paper had four different
names under five proprietors.

Another early newspaper, of which there is at least one copy
extant, is “The New Windsor Gazette,” under date of February
19, 1799> first published in 1798 by Jacob Schultz, he later remov¬
ing to Newburgh, where he changed the name of the paper to the
“Orange County Gazette.” Another early paper of the county
which underwent a change of management was “The Orange

ORANGE COUNTY

547

County Patriot and Spirit of Seventy-Six.” It was established at
Goshen by Gabriel Denton, in 1808; three years later it was pur¬
chased by Lewis & Crowell and removed to Newburgh, where it
was published as “a new series.” In 1812 T. B. Crowell was the
publisher ; he declared that he held his columns open to all parties,
but was influenced by none. In 1822 Mr. Crowell removed the
paper to Goshen; after a time he sold it to R. C. S. Hendrie. It
later was purchased by F. T. Parsons, who changed its name to
“Goshen Democrat.”

The “Orange County Republican,” another early county news¬
paper, was started in 1806 at Montgomery, or as some contend, at
Wards Bridge, which was one and the same place. From the
beginning it claimed to be an independent Republican paper, opposed
on general principles to the Federalists. Six years later its name
was changed to “Independent Republican,” and later removed to
Goshen. The papers of the early days changed hands frequently,
and it was not unusual for the same owner to sell his paper, and
repurchase it, sell again, and again become the owner of it, as in
the case of Edward M. Ruttenber with the “Newburgh Tele¬
graph,” a paper which was established under the name of “The
Political Index,” and changed to “Orange Telegraph” before it
assumed its last name. The establishment of the “Newburgh
Gazette” was started by John D. Spaulding in June, 1822, which in
the course of years had eight different proprietors ; its last owner,
Eugene W. Gray, in connection with the “Gazette,” started the
“Daily News,” which ran through various vicissitudes with other
papers, too varied to designate in such a brief history.

In 1833 the establishment of the “Newburgh Journal” was
begun by John D. Spaulding. It was continued for ten years, when
its name was changed to the “Highland Courier,” which was con¬
tinued until Mr. Spaulding’s death. Two years later his widow
sold it, and others later owned it and altered its name until Cyrus
B. Martin resumed the title of “Newburgh Journal,” a weekly; in
1863 the publication of the “Daily Journal” was begun. The
“Newburgh Journal,” in 1917, was merged with the “Newburgh
News,” and the “Journal’s” plant dismantled. The “Newburgh
News” had been started in 1885, and at present is the only news¬
paper published in Newburgh.

548

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Journalism throughout Orange County has had a long and
varied life. In Middletown from the “Middletown Courier” down
to the present “Times Herald” the number of dailies and weeklies
are legion. The first was established by a young printer from the
neighboring county of Sullivan, in 1841. A. A. Bensel was the
youthful printer’s name. The story runs that he borrowed $300,
walked the better part of his way to New York, where he pur¬
chased equipment, which was shipped to Newburgh by sloop, car¬
ried cross-country to Middletown, where in April, 1841, he began
the issuance of the “Middletown Courier.” The “Times Herald,”
as in the case of the “News and Journal” of Newburgh, is a merger
of two dailies, consummated by the Harriman Company on January

1, 1927.

Montgomery, as we already have observed with the “Orange
County Republican,” had an early newspaper. Others followed,
such as “The Republican Banner” in 1833, “The Montgomery
Standard” in 1859, “The Montgomery Republican” in 1868. The
last two named were consolidated in 1869 under the joint name of
“Republican and Standard.” Port Jervis’ first paper, issued in
1850, was the “Port Jervis Express.” It was an independent
Whig journal. In the same year a Democratic organ was started
under the name of the “Tri-States Union.” Among other papers
published in Port Jervis in the early days were: “The Evening
Gazette,” a tri-weekly paper, and “Weekly Gazette.” The “War¬
wick Advertiser” was founded by Leonard Cox in 1866. Present-
day papers in the county, in addition to those already mentioned,
are: The “Chester News”; the “Cornwall Local”; the “Orange
County Leader,” of Florida; the “Goshen Democrat” and “Goshen
Independent-Republican”; “News of the Highlands,” Highland
Falls; “Standard Reporter,” Montgomery; “Union-Gazette,”
Port Jervis; “Citizen-Herald,” Walden; the “Times,” Washing-
tonville; “Pointer,” of West Point; and “Valley Dispatch” of
Warwick.

Benevolent organizations have always been numerous in
Orange County; no section is without them. Homes for the
friendless, old ladies’ homes, and hospitals are dotted all over the
county. The Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital for the
Insane was established in 1870; the Home for the Friendless in

ORANGE COUNTY 549

Newburgh in 1861, followed by St. Luke’s Hospital in 1874. The
Thrall Hospital in Middletown was opened for occupancy in May,
1892, and in 1928, after the Horton Memorial Hospital was under
construction, the board of managers of the two hospitals took steps
to combine the two institutions in the newly erected building. The
Warwick Hospital, the Tuxedo Hospital, the Cornwall Hospital,

Gumaer House, Godeffroy

and others in the county might be named as providing adequate
accommodations for proper and up-to-date treatment of the sick.

Lodges — Masonic, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Royal
Arcanum, Elks, Knights of Columbus, to name only a few — also
have been organized in all sections of the county. Only recently
the earliest minute book of Steuben Lodge, No. 18, constituted at
Newburgh in 1788, was found, as well as other records of early
lodges in Newburgh. Many facts, hitherto unknown to the present
generation, thus have been brought to light, resurrecting docu¬
ments of rare historic interest.

550

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

To treat adequately the subject of the Civil War as it affected
Orange County would far exceed the limits of this study. From
every section of the county, it may be said, Lincoln’s call for volun¬
teers met with a ready response. Recruiting handbills were
issued in all the towns and villages. Here is a copy of the first one
issued in Newburgh:

“To Arms ! To Arms !

“A recruiting office has been opened at the office of
Fullerton and Van Wyck, corner of Second and Water
Streets, Newburgh, for the purpose of enlisting a Com¬
pany of volunteers, in pursuance of the provisions of the
Act passed April 16, 1861, enitled ‘An Act to authorize the
equipment of a volunteer militia, and to provide for the
common defense.’ Two hundred .ablebodied men wanted,
who will be armed, equipped, and paid by the state.”

The fall of Fort Sumter elicited from the larger towns meet¬
ings organized to enlist men and raise money for the defense of the
union. Twenty-four regiments and companies were recruited and
formed in the county, not to mention numerous enlistments in other
regiments as well as in the navy. Of the seventeen towns in the
county not one failed to send a volunteer. Newburgh, Wallkill,
Montgomery, Deerpark and Warwick headed the list, each send¬
ing one hundred or more men. Newburgh sent 493 and Wallkill
447 from April, 1861, to July, 1862, according to a table compiled
by Ruttenber and Clark. The 124th Infantry Regiment, of which
Captain A. Van Horne Ellis, of New Windsor, was the first com¬
manding officer, and later known as “the Orange Blossoms,” was
organized at Goshen to serve three years. It was mustered into
service September 6, 1862, and was mustered out June 3, 1865.
During its long service it participated in fourteen battles to the
great credit of its entire personnel. “This regiment of heroes, for
such they have proved themselves to be,” declared “The Newburgh
Daily Union,” “are expected home soon. They have made as noble
a record as any regiment in the field. They have poured out their
blood on dozens of heroic fields, and have a roll of heroic dead
whose memory should be precious to old Orange forever.”

What has been said of those who fought in our Civil War may
also be said in equal measure of the veterans of the Spanish- Ameri¬
can War and the First and Second World Wars.

CHAPTER VII

Literature and Education

CHAPTER VII

Literature and Education

The facts regarding the early education in the county, and its
gradual development, are meagre in detail. The pioneering fathers
accepted the aid of the parson in the majority of incidents if their
children were not taught at home, and homes varied as they vary
today in capacity and inclination on the part of parents to instruct
their own offspring. Fortunate were those homes in which the
pioneer fathers had brought with them a small library, as in the
case of the Clinton family, of Little Britain, whose books were
loaned to neighbors far and wide.

Eventually private schools began to spring up in various sec¬
tions of the county, conducted by retired clergymen and by young
men who taught school to help defray their own expenses in the
pursuit of education. This notably was so in the case of young
Noah Webster. To provide for the expense of his education he
resorted to teaching, and came to Goshen, where, if we are to
believe tradition, he had after arriving and obtaining a school, only
seventy-five cents left in his pocket. He evidently made an impres¬
sion on the community, for when he left Goshen, Henry Wisner,
the most influential man of that entire section, penned the follow¬
ing introduction :

“Goshen, August 26, 1782.

“Sir, — The bearer, Mr. Noah Webster, has taught a
grammar school for some time past at this place, much to
the satisfaction of his employers. He is now doing some
business in a literary way, which will, in the opinion of
good judges, be a great service to posterity. He being a
stranger in New Jersey, may stand in need of assistance of
some gentlemen with whom you are acquainted. He is a

554

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

young gentleman whose moral as well as political character
is such as will render him worthy of your notice. Any
favor which you may do him will be serving the public,
and accepted as a favor done your friend and very humble

servant. “Henry Wisner.

“His Excellency Governor Livingston.”

Among the earliest schools in the county was that conducted
on the Glebe, so-called under the Palatine grant. Originally five
hundred acres were set apart for church and educational facilities.
Separate dwellings were erected for the minister and the school¬
master ; the latter’s house stood on the lot which had been assigned
to him, west side of the present Library Street about opposite Clin¬
ton Street. The name of the first schoolmaster is not known, but
the one who seems to have made the greatest impression was
John Nathan Hutchins, of New York City. He came up to New¬
burgh in 1774, advanced in years, but still vigorous in mind.
A mathematician and astronomer, he had founded “Hutchins’
Almanac.” Tradition describes him as wearing “a long dressing
gown and a white pointed cap with a tassle at the top.” He
remained as a schoolmaster of the Glebe School until shortly before
his death in 1782, and was highly esteemed and always spoken of
as “Master Hutchins.” His successor was Richard King. It is
interesting to note that schoolmasters were selected by vote of the
freeholders of the German precinct. After King had served a year
a meeting was called by the Glebe trustees to meet at the house of
Martin Wygant for the purpose of selecting a schoolmaster for
the ensuing year.

With the coming of the Rev. George H. Spierin, the two offi¬
cers, a minister and schoolmaster, were combined; this gave rise
to the disputes which ultimately terminated the jurisdiction of the
Episcopal Church over the Glebe. This is another and far too
complicated a story to recite here. In the meantime, 1796, the
Newburgh Academy was built. After that date the Glebe School
was carried on in the new building for a while, sessions also having
met in various private houses which the trustees rented for the
purpose. Finally, the old Lutheran Church was enlarged and used

ORANGE COUNTY

555

for school purposes, until removed around 1847-48. This building
was situated in the old town cemetery in Liberty Street, near South
Street.

Academies throughout the county continued to educate the sons
of leading citizens; young William Henry Seward, of Florida,
began attending, when only nine years old, Farmers’ Hall Acad¬
emy at Goshen; to the Montgomery Academy came James
Arbuckle, later to become a well-known divine.

“While it is evident that the general establishment and liberal
endowment of academies are highly to be commended,” wrote Gov-

The Newburgh High School

ernor George Clinton, in his annual message to the Legislature in
January, 1795, “and are attended with the most beneficial conse¬
quences, yet it cannot be denied that they are principally confined
to the children of the opulent, and that a great proportion of the
community is excluded from their immediate advantages; the
establishment of common schools throughout the state, is happily
calculated to remedy this inconvenience.”

Thus a native son of old Ulster County became the father of
the common school system, for common schools were established

556

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

by the first Common School Law passed April 9, 1795. The fol¬
lowing year the older towns, such as Warwick, Minisink and Corn¬
wall, proceeded to elect commissioners; Monroe followed in 1797,
and Deerpark in 1798. Not until 1800 were three commissioners
elected from the town of Blooming Grove under the Act of 1796.
Progress was slow, however, and it was not until the law of 1812
was passed that the modern system of public schools can be said
to have been fairly begun.

The new system did not prevent private or pay schools from
being established in all sections of the county ; most of these live
only in the memory of those attending them. Now and then the
little red schoolhouse will have its chronologist. There used to be
such a pay school a little west of Newburgh. The teacher was an
Irishman by the name of Johnson. He is described as having been
tall and thin, somewhat stooped and always dressed in a blue swal¬
lowtail coat, with brass buttons. Even as he worked in his garden
he wore a stove-pipe hat, a high stock and linen collar. A native
of Newburgh, J. Dexter Peirce, who is still living, is the authority
for the following facts in relation to this particular red school-
house. It appears to have been a two-room house, surrounded “by
a rickety wooden fence.” Descending two steps into the school¬
room one was confronted with long, unpainted wooden desks and
benches polished a rich dark brown from years of use, and orna¬
mented with the carved initials of generations of pupils. To carry
the description of the room further we find long benches without
desks for the younger pupils. In one corner stood a platform with
the teacher’s desk. In another corner was his bookcase, on the top
of which were a row of stovepipe hats. The walls were covered
with dingy old maps against a coat of culm from the smoke of the
old wood-stove. We are told there was little system or order.
When a pupil was ready to recite, up would go his hand. The
schoolmaster was an expert in making quill pens, for at the time of
which we are writing there were few steel pens in use.

The second room in the schoolhouse, we are informed, led into
a small sleeping room used by the teacher. We are given a glimpse
into it: “Under the bed were stored vegetables and other food
supplies, and many sweepings from the school-room, the floor of
which must be kept neat.” One winter the faithful old school

ORANGE COUNTY

557

teacher caught inflammation of the lungs, and we are told that
neighbors and their hired men cared for him and sat up nights. In
this time they had a clean-up bee, white-washed the walls, scrubbed
the floors and rearranged things in general, much to the disturb¬
ance of mind of the teacher, who grumbled and feared it would
never be homelike again. Owing to Mr. Johnson’s reputation as a
scholar parents were attracted to his school and among pupils was
a future governor of the State.

From the little red schoolhouse, scattered remotely over cross-
ways and byways of rural sections, to more substantial school
buildings in the towns and
villages and urban centers
the educational facilities of
the county have grown and
developed until the county
today ranks among the best
equipped along educational
lines with its many modern
high schools, academies, in¬
stitutes and colleges, chief of
which is the West Point
Military Academy, known
throughout the world as the
training school for Ameri¬
can officers. An attempt
was made under the Act of
July 1 6, 1798, to organize a
military school at West
Point, but progress was slow. It was not, however, until the Act
of March 16, 1802, was passed that the academy was duly created
under the superintendency of Major Jonathan Williams, who
received his appointment in April, 1802.

Within recent years the county has witnessed the establish¬
ment of an air training school as an added course for academy
students. Stewart Field is rapidly forging to the front on a large
scale as a military city, with its legion of handsome brick build¬
ings, chapel, recreational center, and sundry other departments.
This is, indeed, a significant development in the county and evokes

Main Entrance, Newburgh High School

558

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

memories of another soldiers’ encampment which from a wilder¬
ness was created in short order; an encampment ground quartering
between seven and eight thousand troops. One hundred sixty
years ago the American Revolutionary Army marched away from
the Temple Hill encampment ground. Today, in the same town¬
ship, and within sight of this former military cantonment, is situ¬
ated another training field, the one cherishing the memory of past
heroes; the other fitting men for service in their country’s cause.

Middletown High School

Of late years many of the rural schoolhouses have been closed
and merged into centralized schools, to which pupils are trans¬
ported in buses. This makes for efficiency, economy, and for
greatly increased standards of scholarship, in addition to a more
unified spirit in athletics and sociology.

One of the earliest efforts made in the county among others to
provide good reading was by the Literary Society of Blooming
Grove, whose legal organization was effected January 16, 1806.

ORANGE COUNTY

559

The books selected for those early libraries were decidedly of a
substantial character, historical and biographical, rather than fic¬
tion, as seems so popular today. Almost in every part of the
county such reading rooms as that, of dozens we might name, had
their inception. Literary associations and library organizations
followed in rapid succession. To trace the history of any one of
any number of such institutions would be to favor one as against
another. Suffice it to say that Orange County always has valued
and been foremost in pressing her educational claims.

County newspapers soon added to the general distribution of
knowledge. The earliest weekly newspaper in the county was the
“Goshen Repository.” Occasionally a copy of this weekly will
come to light. The “Newburgh Packet” was the first weekly news¬
paper to be published in Newburgh. A file of this paper between
the issues of May 12, 1796, through January 10, 1797, was loaned
a year or so ago to the present writer by the owner, Alfred Nicoll,
of Washingtonville, New York, for the purpose of making excerpts
therefrom. These thirty-six issues are the only copies of the
“Newburgh Packet” known to exist. Another very early weekly
newspaper of the county was the “New Windsor Gazette.” The
present writer owns the only issue known to exist, that of Febru¬
ary 19, 1799. We mention these three publications because they
are the oldest in point of establishment. The county has not been
at a loss for newspapers. From the beginning of the early eighteen
hundreds they grew apace ; mergers of late years, however, have
taken place, giving the county fewer newspapers, dailies and week¬
lies, than there were a number of years back. An account of some
of these has already been given.

Next to the newspapers the lyceum used to be a large factor
in bringing entertainment and enlightment to the people of the
county. Almost every church in the county in the 1850s to 1860s
fostered this form of educational entertainment. The best brains
in the country were employed and substantial fees given to the
speakers. Nor was this type of entertainment confined to the
larger communities and cities. Many a rural center put on a
lyceum course during the winter months. One that readily comes
to mind is the Congregational Church of Blooming Grove, under
the eminent and fruitful pastorate of the Rev. Austin Craig, of

560

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

whom Henry Ward Beecher wrote on one occasion when asked to
give a lecture: “You have a man, Austin Craig, who knows more
of the Bible than all the preachers of Brooklyn. Whenever I have
met that man I have felt like taking a stool and sitting at his feet
and listening to his words as long as he would talk to me.”

Dutch Reformed Church, Port Jervis

This friendship with the eminent pulpiteer of Brooklyn began
when Mr. Craig (1851-65) instituted a lyceum course in Old
Blooming Grove Church. Prominent speakers came from all over
the country to Blooming Grove, among whom may be mentioned
Horace Greeley, Horace Mann, Henry Ward Beecher, and others
of equal note. It was, indeed, a day when there was a “rage for
lectures.” Peter Cooper had recently embarked upon his noble

ORANGE COUNTY

56i

enterprise of giving young people an opportunity to hear the best
the country afforded, and Orange County had not been backward
in following his example.

Of the county’s historic churches the oldest in point of organi¬
zation is perhaps the Presbyterian Church of Goshen. Although
the exact date when services first were held in Goshen is not known,
the Rev. John Bradner, the church’s first pastor, was called in
1721. He had been ordained to the Christian ministry in 1714,
and before coming to Goshen had been settled at Cape May in New
Jersey. He died in 1732, three months before the birth of his son,
Benoni Bradner, who later was to become one of the early pastors
of the historic Blooming Grove Church. The elder Bradner, a
graduate of the Edinburgh University, married Elizabeth Colville
against her father’s consent, who thought the young divinity stu¬
dent beneath his notice when it came to asking his daughter’s hand
in marriage, although be it said prior to this he had been an accept¬
able tutor for the young lady in question. It took the young couple
six months to cross the Atlantic, and when a tempestuous storm
arose which nearly foundered the vessel, the bride is said to have
taken it as a personal punishment for disregarding her father’s
wishes. Fourteen pastors have served the Goshen Church, and its
present edifice was erected in 1869, under the ministry of the Rev.
Dr. William D. Snodgrass.

The Good Will Presbyterian Church was organized about
1724-25; Montgomery (Wallkill) Reformed Church, 1732; Beth¬
lehem Presbyterian Church, 1735, if we are to date the church’s
labors from the time the first minister resided and served there;
the Blooming Grove Church, 1759; and Little Britain Church in
1765. These are among the oldest churches still functioning in
Orange County. Other churches were organized in the 1780s and
1 790s. Among these are the Presbyterian Church of Florida,
organized March 24, 1787; Presbyterian Church of Monroe,
October 9, 1788; the Magaghkemeck Church, town of Deerpark,
March 14, 1789; the Warwick Presbyterian Church, October 22,
1791; Warwick Baptist Church, November 23, 1791; First Bap¬
tist Church of Cornwall, November 19, 1794; the Reformed Pres¬
byterian Congregation of Coldenham, 1795; and the Amity Pres¬
byterian Church, April 21, 1797.

S.E.N.Y. — 36

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CHAPTER VIII

Amusements and the Professions

CHAPTER VIII

Amusements and the Professions

Often through a public petition we catch glimpses of other facts
incidentally related to the substance of the petition, but giving as
well information along other lines. For example, in 1767, John
Morrel and Joseph Albertson sent a petition to Governor Henry
Moore for additional taverns at Newburgh. We learn further
that at that time “on the Glebe land there are about seventeen
dwelling houses, which are situated at or close by a very public
landing place on Hudson’s river, whither many people from the
back parts of the country bring their produce to send it to New
York, having at least three boats belonging to the place that con¬
stantly go from hence to New York and return back again with
goods, which creates a very considerable trade.”

It appears also from the above petition that the said petitioners
previously had been refused a request of similar tenor by one of
the commissioners for collecting the duty of excise for strong
liquors, etc., in the county; that only one had been granted a per¬
mit. The petition was dated February 4, 1767, and signed by
eighty-three persons “inhabitants of the county of Ulster,” the
Newburgh section then being in Ulster County. The petitioners
urged the “absolute necessity for at least three or four taverns at
the said landing place to accommodate the country people, travelers
and passengers” ; and that unless “so many taverns are licensed,”
the community would “become of no account and be deserted by the
inhabitants.” We are not informed what answer was forthcom¬
ing, but as the community later became of some “account,” we
infer that the petition was granted.

The single tavern up to that time, however, was run by Martin
Wygant. It was a log cabin with a frame addition and stood on

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

566

the north side of Broad Street near Liberty, then known as the
King’s Highway. It later was occupied by the father of General
John E. Wool, and was the birthplace of that officer. During the
Revolutionary War, 1780, Wygant’s business increasing, he moved
more to the center of activities on Liberty Street, just north of the
Glebe church and burying ground, and here a remnant of his old
tavern still remains. Here, Newburgh’s Committee of Safety and
Observation was organized and held its meetings, and to the tavern
came those who were eager to identify themselves with the Revolu¬
tionary cause by signing the pledge of allegiance. The local militia
assembled here also on sudden call.

Eventually, by reason of the mode of travel, taverns sprang up
and inns became overnight stands at certain intervals on all routes
of travel. The more frequented routes would naturally find the
greatest number of stopping places. Just before the outbreak of
the American Revolutionary War the Legislature undertook to
govern more strictly the taverns of Orange County. Under a leg¬
islative Act of 1770 for the regulation of the inns of Orange
County we note that “the original design on instituting inns was
that travelers might be accommodated,” but that “it had been per¬
verted to a mischievous purpose by furnishing entertainment for
idle and dissolute youth, to the ruin of families.” It was, there¬
fore, declared that “any person selling or giving liquor to any
person under 16 or who permits such youth to play any game
within or without the house of the innkeeper .... shall pay for
each ofifense five pounds, to be paid to parents or guardians, one
half of which is to go to the overseer of the poor.” Here is
another requirement in the regulation of the pre-Revolutionary
War inn : “Any person keeping a public tavern shall keep two good
spare beds, one thereof to be a featherbed with good and sufficient
sheeting and covering for such beds, which must be sufficient to
accommodate four persons .... and grain and hay and pasturage
for the cattle of the traveler must at all times be kept on hand.”

It would be impossible even to enumerate the many taverns
throughout the county in the early days. A few of them, however,
may be mentioned if only to cite their location: William Henry
Herbert, better known by his pen name of Frank Forester, writes
of Tom Ward’s Tavern. This is said to have been the old Wawa-

568

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

yanda Hotel near Warwick. It was one of the best known taverns
of its day, vying with the Stiff ern Tavern, and June’s and Gallo¬
way’s, all of Revolutionary fame,- located in what was known as
Smith’s Clove, which extended from Suffern to Newburgh Junc¬
tion and hence through Central Valley, Highland Mills and Wood¬
bury. One of these old houses is still standing. It is called
Smith’s, and from here General Washington wrote a number of
letters, copies of which may be seen today upon the walls in the
front hall of the house.

Then there was Grace Hill’s Tavern, situated near Good Will
Church in the town of Montgomery. From an old document pre¬
pared by a missionary, the Rev. John Cuthbertson, who frequently
came through parts of Orange and Ulster counties from 1754 until
1794, we find numerous places through which he traveled, the
homes in which he tarried for the night, and duties he performed,
such as preaching, lecturing, marrying and baptizing. The clergy¬
man stopped often at James Rainey’s farm, which stood four miles
west of Wallkill on what is today the Walden-Pine Bush Road.
This house is said to be the first brick house erected west of the
Wallkill, and the brick was manufactured on the farm. Walin’s in
Florida and Wilkin’s in Goshen were other places at which the Rev.
Mr. Cuthbertson occasionally put up for the night. These may not
have been public taverns, but accommodations were to be secured
at them.

One of the more famous taverns of the Revolutionary days
was known as Hamilton’s. It stood in “Liberty Square,” in the
town of Little Britain, so named because no loyalist lived within
the immediate neighborhood. The inn was kept by Sarah Hamil¬
ton, and her guests were confined mainly to soldiers and officers.
To the west on the Goshen Road was the William Telford Tavern.
Officers in command of the prisoners of Burgoyne’s army, as they
marched through the vicinity, stopped at the Telford Tavern for
the night. Another one of the more celebrated taverns during war
days was the DuBois Tavern below the Bethlehem Meetinghouse on
the New Windsor and Washingtonville Road. Years ago there stood
close by the Goshen Road, near the Rock Tavern station, an old
inn. It once was a rendezvous for social events, political meetings
and Fourth of July celebrations. In those days women would meet

ORANGE COUNTY

569

at the taverns and at the homes of neighbors, where from flax
grown on adjacent farms cloth would be spun. One narrator
states that young women went from farm to farm spinning and
weaving wool, and quaintly volunteers to add that many a “female
weaver” found a good husband in her travels.

While Orange County went in early for entertainment of
varied kinds, and some of the larger inns had ballrooms, the thea¬
tre was of slower development. The first American theatre was
built in 1752 at Williamsburg, Virginia. The old village Opera
House in Second Street, Newburgh, still stands to remind people of
its location, if nothing more. It is now the Palatine Garage. But
here local attractions gave their most important theatrical per¬
formances until in 1886, with the building of the Academy of Music
on the northwest corner of Grand Street and Broadway, the new
location was used. A description of the old Opera House speaks
of an enormous stoop and platform to the second story entrance of
the auditorium. The building formerly had been the First Meth¬
odist Church. Movie houses have displaced the theatre buildings,
save here and there throughout the county, where summer theat¬
rical attractions are occasionally held.

To observe the thickly populated Washington Heights, south
of Newburgh, today one can hardly visualize its appearance so late
as the 1890s. Then it consisted of nearly a hundred acres, partly
wooded, and partly cultivated, with but a single farmhouse, owned
then by Captain Henry Robinson, who had purchased the land
under the foreclosure of a mortgage in 1824. Not until the death
of Captain Robinson in 1866 were the original boundaries of this
tract of land broken up. For some time, however, it was used
mainly for agricultural pursuits, save the blufif to the east over¬
looking the Hudson River, which often was secured for public
affairs. Here the county fair held sway. It also was occupied by
military encampments. The Newburgh Baseball Association held
its games in a fenced-in enclosure, and it also was a popular place
for picnic parties of the long ago. Since those days the Orange
County Fair has been held on the outskirts of the city of
Middletown.

In the initial stages of professions little authorization and less
regulation were required. In the Colonial period there was no

570

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

formal medical training-, for example, and young men inclined to
pursue the medical profession studied under physicians who like¬
wise had been apprenticed to men of the profession and eventually
had gone into practice for themselves. Occasionally, however, in
spite of the long voyage, young Colonials obtained a European
medical education. Perhaps the earliest trained physician to come
into the county was Dr. Cadwallader Colden, who settled in Colden-
ham in 1728. In the course of his eventful life he wrote some able
medical dissertations. One of the most versatile of men he was
successively and successfully a surveyor, a botanist, and a politi¬
cian, becoming Lieutenant-Governor and ultimately Acting Gov¬
ernor of the Colony.

Two of Charles Clinton’s sons became physicians, Alexander
and Charles, Jr.; the first was graduated from Princeton, then the
College of New Jersey, situated in Newark, where he received his
Bachelor of Arts degree in 1750; three years later he received
his Master’s degree. Alexander studied medicine in New York
with Dr. Peter Middleton. He located at Shawangunk, where he
practiced his profession until his death of confluent smallpox at the
early age of twenty-six. His brother, Charles, two years his
junior, also studied medicine under Dr. Peter Middleton, of New
York, practicing twenty years in the town of New Windsor, then
moving to the town of Montgomery, where he died unmarried in
1791. Dr. Charles Clinton left in manuscript form what he labeled
a “Day Book” concerning his medical practice from 1764 to 1784.
Such source material is a veritable mine in regard to the names of
the inhabitants of the vicinity and the locations of their homes.
Frequently we come across in old letters that patients and their
families desired Dr. Charles Clinton to be called in for consulta¬
tion. Here follows a note which is illuminating from a medical
point of view for that period, addressed to Doctor Charles Clinton :

“The weather being bad and the taylors not here this
morning to make my cloaths, therefore it’s not in my
power to attend on you to go to Mr. Moffetts to day, but
as soon as the weather alters for the better, I shall attend
upon you. Thomas Neelly’s son John came to me this
morning, and informs me that his father is very ill with

ORANGE COUNTY

57i

the colick, and I have not the medicines at present for the
complaint. Therefore I have sent him to you, and I
imagine if he had a solution of an aloe tick mixture, or pills
of the same kind, with some of the spice kind intermixed, it
will help him, but you’ll be better to judge when you hear
his complaints. I am, Sir, your humble servant, James
Smith. Germantown, Monday morning 8 o’clock, Janu¬
ary the 5th, 1783.”

One of the most picturesque of the early county physicians was
Dr. Moses Higby, who practiced in New Windsor and Newburgh
prior to the Revolutionary War, but who is best remembered for
his part in connection with Daniel Taylor, the British messenger,
who, when brought before Governor George Clinton at the Falls
House in Little Britain, swallowed a silver bullet which he was
carrying to General Burgoyne at Saratoga. The messenger was
forced to relinquish the bullet permanently, however, after the
doctor had administered a strong tartar emetic for the second time,
as upon its first recovery, it was reswallowed. Many humorous
stories are related of Dr. Higby, and during a long practice of over
sixty years he was a welcome visitor in many a home, where some¬
times he would remain several days. He died in 1823, being
remembered as a man of sterling character, frank manner, and
strict honesty.

Medical societies in the various counties throughout the State
began to be organized in 1806; these county societies were per¬
mitted to examine students and grant diplomas ; and it was further
provided under the law that no person should “practice physic or
surgery” in any county until after he had passed an examination
by the society of the county in which he intended to practice, or
should he do so he was disqualified from collecting “any debt or
debts incurred by such practices” in any county of the State.

Not until 1880 was this law repealed, which then made it man¬
datory for every person authorized to practice “physic and sur¬
gery” to register in the clerk’s office of the county in which such
practice was to be carried on. He must appear there in person
and “subscribe and verify by oath or affirmation before a person
duly qualified to administer oaths under the law of the State, an

572 SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

affidavit containing such facts, and whether such authority is by
diploma or license, and the date of the same and by whom granted,
which, if willfully false, shall convict the affiant to conviction and
punishment for perjury.” Since then later laws have become more
and more stringent in respect to rules and regulations in the prac¬
tice of medicine.

Because of the nature of the medical profession reticence has
surrounded it. Of the hundreds of physicians who have practiced

( Courtesy of Dudley Diemer)

Governor George Clinton’s Farm House, River Road, New Windsor

medicine in Orange County there have been many learned and
skillful ones whose reputations have outlived the generation they
served. For the most part, however, unless they have specialized
and made new discoveries along their chosen branch of the science,
they live only in the memory of those who have been helped by
them.

ORANGE COUNTY

. 573

Although a Court of Common Pleas and a Supreme Court
were organized in the original county in 1691, records are not
extant in regard to legal proceedings until 1703 ; even then we look
in vain for legal talent being domiciled in the county. Nearly a
quarter of a century more was to elapse before Henry Wileman,
the first lawyer of the county, came up from New York and
acquired land in what is today the town of Montgomery. He had
been a registrar in chancery in the former place.

From Wileman’s- day to the present lawyers have been legion;
even the mere mentioning of the names of those now passed on
who have practiced law in Orange County would fill more space
than allotted to our task. Suffice it to say that the lawyers of the
county, with rare exceptions, have possessed an exceptionally high
standing of legal acumen, and this was especially true during the
early part of the nineteenth century. At times those who occupied
places upon the bench were not intellectually above the average of
their fellow partisans, but moved up to their lofty eminence
through natural qualities denied to their less favored brethren.

From the highest to the lowest court law has been a binding
force upon all citizens of the county who have come under its man¬
date. In order to catch a glimpse of the type of summons in a
justice of the peace court in the year 1758, we quote the follow¬
ing, than which there are few earlier legal records extant:

“Orang County To the constabel of the Otterkill

“You are hereby requird in his majesties Name to
Summon and warn Thomas Donlear to be and appear
before me on friday the 10th day of this month at one of
the clock in the afternoon to answer the coplaint of Abimial
Yong in an action of debet and that he render unto him five
pounds which he oweth and unjustly doth detain as it is
said here of fail not given under my hand this third day
of November anno domini 1758

“Selah Strong lustis”

It is of interest to note that the server of the summons received
five shillings for his services.

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CHAPTER IX

The County's Prominent Citizens

CHAPTER IX

The County' s Prominent Citizens

We can do little more under the present caption than to select
a few of the conspicuous names that have gone to make up the roll
of the county’s well-known inhabitants, in various spheres of
activity, and in doing this, it has been our aim to have each section
of the county represented. It has been said that what George
Washington was to the Nation, George Clinton was to the State
of New York, and because he was born in the town of New Wind¬
sor, in the present Orange County, although then a part of Ulster
County, he probably stands at the head of the noted citizens of
Orange County. Born July 26, 1739, seven years after Washing¬
ton, whose friend and confidant he was destined to become, he
early gave promise of striking initiative and valor. At sixteen he
sailed from the port of New York on a privateer, and won a name
for himself by the manner in which he faced hardship and danger.
After a brief military career under his father, Charles Clinton,
George engaged in the study of the law in the office of the cele¬
brated Chief Justice, William Smith, who wrote a history of New
York. After his admission to the bar he commenced the practice
of his profession in his native county, then Ulster, as we already
have observed, where for many years he held the office of county
clerk.

He soon became interested in public affairs and successively was
a member of the Colonial Assembly and of the Continental Con¬
gress. Owing to specific instructions from his State he neither
voted for nor signed the Declaration of Independence, but was
able by returning home to effect a change in the position of his
State, which thus allowed the four representatives who still

S.E.N.Y. — 37

578

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

remained to sign that historic instrument. In 1777 George Clin¬
ton received the appointment of brigadier general in the army of
the United States, and engaged in numerous campaigns with

(Courtesy of The Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands)

marked credit. On July 9, 1777, it was found that George Clinton,
under the first Constitution of the State, had been chosen both
Governor and Lieutenant-Governor; resigning from the latter
office, he took the oath as Governor, July 30, 1777, at Kingston, and
remained at the head of the State Government for twenty-one
years, with one intermission of six years, 1796 to 1802, when John

ORANGE COUNTY

579

Jay held the office. In 1804 he was elected Vice-President of the
United States under Thomas Jefferson, and reelected to that office
in Madison’s first term. He died in Washington, April 20, 1812,
while still holding the second office in the land. Ostensibly a man
of action, of bold and de¬
cisive character, sagacious
in council, and dauntless
in the performance of
duty, George Clinton was
a member of the Demo¬
cratic-Republican party,
and hence was distrustful
of a centralized form of
government. He was,
however, devoted to his
State, and ever vigilant of
its prosperity and welfare.

In briefly reviewing
Orange County’s illustri¬
ous men a word con¬
cerning the Governor’s
brother, General James
Clinton, and his nephew,
the well-known DeWitt
Clinton, is in order. James
as well as George caught
the flame of the spirit of
their dying father, who
passed away in November,

1773, just as the storm of
the American Revolution
was about to break, a
storm which he saw coming, for with his latest breath he admon¬
ished his sons to stand firm for the liberties of America. When
barely twenty years old James was appointed a lieutenant in his
father’s regiment; his tastes were distinctly military. Two years
later he became a captain, distinguishing himself at the fall of
Fort Frontenac, by taking a sloop of war on Lake Ontario, which

(Courtesy of The Historical Society of
Newburgh Bay and the Highlands)

580

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

had prevented the English forces from advancing. At the out¬
break of the Revolution he was appointed a colonel, and placed in
command of the erection of the fortifications in the Highlands of
the Hudson, two of which, Montgomery and Clinton, in the fol¬
lowing year he was to defend as subordinate in command to his
brother George; both scarcely eluded capture. George managed
to leap into a boat and row away under cover of darkness; James
slid down a deep precipice into Poplopen’s Kill, out of which he

passed to safety. James Clinton’s
last military experience was at the
surrender of Lord Cornwallis at
Yorktown, where his brigade re¬
ceived the colors. His army life
was supplemented with various civic
honors, for example, as a member
of the New York State Convention,
in which he considered the Consti¬
tution of the United States. While
he never quite forgave those who
might have effected it, since his
merit deserved it, James Clinton
was never more than a brigadier
general. He is portrayed as having
been tall and erect, wearing his hair
after the custom of the day, tied in
a queue, which hung down between his shoulders. He also is cred¬
ited with having a certain intellectual sternness, such as also char¬
acterized his famous son, DeWitt Clinton.

If succeeding generations exceed the acumen of their fore¬
bears, then it was natural for DeWitt Clinton, third son of Gen¬
eral James Clinton, and nephew of Governor George Clinton, to
have surpassed in natural ability those who preceded him. He also
has at least captured the recognition of writers, which was not
accorded the men of his preceding generation. He was the first
student to matriculate at Columbia after the name of the college
had been changed from that of King’s ; after he was graduated, he
studied law, but soon gave up any hope of distinction at the bar by
accepting the appointment of private secretary to his uncle, then
Governor of the State. From this time until his sudden death,

(Courtesy of the Historical Society of
Newburgh Bay and the Highlands)

ORANGE COGNTY

58i

while serving in the executive chair at Albany, 1828, he was iden¬
tified with the public service. Whether as United States Senator,
mayor of New York City, Governor of the State, or as a candidate
for the presidency of the United States, DeWitt Clinton was the
same resolute and resourceful man. Criticism failed to perturb
him, and defeat only goaded him on the more. While the Erie
Canal was dubbed “Clinton’s folly,” it really was conceived in the
mind of his uncle. To DeWitt Clinton, however, belongs the
credit of constructing it, in spite of every barrier placed in his way.
No one of his day was more deeply proud of his city and State,
nor more interested in every enterprise to promote and enhance
their welfare and prosperity. His failings were the failings of his
generation, but as an able, upright public servant, the name of
DeWitt lives. Such then were the Clintons, and while only the
salient points of their careers have been drawn, we have endeavored
to sketch the qualities of their leadership, qualities which not only
enabled them to climb to power, but helped them to retain that
power through years of political upheaval. It is a unique drama.
No one who knew the Clintons doubted their bravery; no one dis¬
puted their honesty; no one questioned their ability. Few families
have equalled their record; none has surpassed it in the annals
of the State of New York.

In point of time Orange County’s next most distinguished
statesman was William H. Seward, born in Florida in this county
in 1801. His father, of Welsh ancestry, was a physician, a magis¬
trate and town merchant all rolled into one. After graduating
from Union College young Seward read law in New York City
and began the practice of his profession in Auburn in 1823, there¬
after disconnecting himself from his native county, although never
forgetting and always praising the soil of old Orange County.
Under the astute management of his friend and promoter, Thur-
low Weed, Seward was made successively State Senator, Governor
of his State and United States Senator, and might have received
the presidential nomination if his anti-slavery views had not been
so compromising. In the Senate, however, he rose to leadership
and was most punctilious in his senatorial obligations. Secretary
of State under Fincoln and Johnson, upon retirement from execu¬
tive responsibility he traveled for two years, visiting among other
countries and places Alaska, which he had brought under our

582

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

flag. In his last days he was at work on his autobiography and
penning an account of his late travels. With no warning of the
approaching end, except a gradual decline of health, he laid down
his pen on the morning of October io, 1872, only to rest entirely
from his earthly labors in the afternoon.

Only one other native son of Orange County has attained the
Governorship, namely, Benjamin Barker Odell, Jr., a man who

Birthplace of DeWitt Clinton

might have obtained the presidency of the United States, if we are
to believe the political gossip of the day, if he had been willing to
have accepted the nomination for Vice-President on the McKinley
ticket. Odell, it appears, wanted to be Theodore Roosevelt’s suc¬
cessor as Governor of the State. As all know now, Roosevelt,
who would have liked to have been renominated Governor,
was shoved upstairs into the Vice-Presidency, and on the assassi¬
nation of President William McKinley, became President.

Born January 14, 1854, in the town of New Windsor, in a
house still standing on the Windsor Highway, young Odell assisted
his father in his ice business in the summer vacation. Acquiring

ORANGE COUNTY

583

in the meantime an education, he first entered Bethany College,
Bethany, West Virginia, then matriculated at Columbia College,
with the thought in mind of perfecting himself in mining engineer¬
ing, and he was graduated from that institution. After his college
career young Odell returned to Newburgh and became connected
officially with the Much-Hattoes Lake Ice Company, of which his
father was president.

Interesting himself in politics, Ben Odell, as he was known

(Courtesy of The Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands)
Falls House, Little Britain

among his associates, advanced in the councils of his party until
he became a member of the Republican State Committee, later win¬
ning the chairmanship of the executive committee. Eventually,
Mr. Odell served two terms in Congress. He managed Theodore
Roosevelt’s campaign for Governor, and his work in that canvass,
together with his prognostication of the result, established at once
his far-sighted acumen as a political forecaster.

In the fall of 1900 he received a unanimous nomination for
Governor and was elected that year, serving also for a second term
as the State’s executive. His two administrations were marked by

584

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

practical business methods carried into the departments of State
Government. His policy of economy and an extension of indirect
taxation ultimately discontinued direct State taxes. Reserved in
manner, not gifted as a public speaker, Mr. Odell got results by the
sheer force of knowing what he wanted to accomplish and how to
accomplish it.

The county also has given birth to some well-known artists,
chief of whom stands George Inness, perhaps America’s foremost
landscape painter. Born in the town of Newburgh in 1825 he
spent the greater part of his boyhood there. The artist gave away
much of his earlier work. It is said, indeed, that he seldom kept
one of his own paintings. Two of his daughters, in later years,
made the remark that they did not possess one of their famous
father’s pictures. Inness was influenced by the Barbizon School,
perhaps because of his long residence in Paris. He later returned
to America, established a studio in New York City, and was elected
a member of the National Academy of Design. A critic has
declared that Inness’ paintings portrayed “with atmospheric charm
the scenery of the eastern states.” Two of his best known works
are “Georgia Pines” and “Under the Greenwood.” Not many
years ago one of his pieces sold for $17,000. The artist died in
1894.

While not a native of the county, Raphael Hoyle, an English¬
man, resided in Newburgh from as early as 1823 until his death,
August 12,1 838. He seems to have made a great impression upon his
intimate friends, among whom was Andrew Jackson Downing, the
distinguished horticulturist and author, also a native of Newburgh,
Orange County, and of whom we will note more in particular pres¬
ently. Hoyle received favorable mention in the historical annals
of the National Academy of Design, by Thomas S. Cummings,
N. A., who writes of him, “though young, he was an artist of merit
in his department — landscape.” One of his best paintings, “Wash¬
ington’s Headquarters at Newburgh,” hangs in the historical
society’s library at Newburgh. Among his seventeen listed pic¬
tures in the annual catalogues of the American Academy from
1828-36, most of which are marked sold, the one mentioned above
is the only picture by Hoyle extant, so far as is known. Raphael
Hoyle was elected a member of the Academy in 1830.

Another native artist of the Hudson River School of Painters

ORANGE COUNTY

585

was Charles Winfield Tice, born at Montgomery, October 1 1, 1810.
His first work appears to have been as a wagon striper, painting
the ornamental lines on wagons and carriages. He came to New¬
burgh in the early thirties, and supported himself entirely as an
artist, even advertising his studio in the local newspapers of the
day. He seems to have been versatile, being able to paint a por¬
trait one day, a landscape the next, and a still life the following,
all being done with equal dexterity of workmanship. At one time
there was hardly a family of prominence around Newburgh that
did not possess in their home a Tice painting. His portraits were
faithful, and his own instruction along this line was obtained from
a traveling portrait painter who visited his native town when he
was only a lad. Tice never signed a production, which makes it
hard today to determine his work, although there are certain char¬
acteristic marks which a student of his work cannot fail to per¬
ceive. There are those today who remember Mr. Tice, short of
stature, with a customary top-hat and cape overcoat. He made
frequent trips to New York to paint portraits. Sometimes he
would remain a week or more in the old Knickerbocker homes to
paint perhaps several members of a family. He on one occasion
went to Washington to paint the portrait of President Franklin
Pierce. Charles Winfield Tice died in 1870 at the age of sixty
years.

Henry Kirke Brown (1814-86) was another Orange County
man who won wide recognition. Born in Leyden, Massachusetts,
in 1814, he early revealed a talent for art in which he was encour¬
aged by his mother, an ardent enthusiast in that line of expression.
He studied in Boston under the well-known portrait painter,
Charles Harding, and later received his training in anatomy under
Dr. Willard Parker. Using some clay he had at hand Mr. Brown
began modeling a female head which was highly praised. So model¬
ing displaced painting, and gradually as a sculptor Mr. Brown
began his life work, although he never fully gave up painting,
which became rather an avocation. He later opened successively
studios in Boston and Albany, where he modeled busts of many
famous men of the day, among whom were Governor Seward, the
Hon. Erastus Corning, ex-Governor Marcy and others.

Mr. Brown spent a year in Florence, then went to Rome and
Naples. In 1856, while his studio was in Brooklyn, he purchased

586

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

a place in Balmville, near Newburgh, on the Hudson, and here he
remained for the rest of his life, doing perhaps in these years some
of his best work, prior to which he had modeled a relief of Presi¬
dent Taylor for the Indian medal, a colossal statue of DeWitt
Clinton, which cast in bronze was placed in Greenwood Cemetery,
Brooklyn, and his equestrian statue of General Washington, which
stands today in Union Square, New York. After a long and busy
life Mr. Brown died at the age of seventy-two years, and is buried

(Courtesy of The Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands )

Old Quality Row, First Street, Newburgh

at Cedar Hill Cemetery, only a few miles north of his former home,
and strange as it may seem, he frequently had made the request
that no stone mark his grave, desiring to be remembered by his
works.

Another outstanding citizen was Andrew Jackson Downing.
Born in Newburgh, October 30, 1815, he proved to be an unusually
precocious child. His health being not of the best he naturally was
shielded by his parents. A college course was denied him because
of the condition of the family exchequer. His father had died
when Andrew was only seven and his mother, anxious for him to
get an early start in life, urged him to enter as a clerk in a dry
goods store.

Eventually, after attending the Montgomery Academy, he
joined his brother in the conduct of the nursery which his father
had established. Here his bent for horticulture soon found ample

ORANGE COUNTY

587

scope, and he began to study more deeply than ever botanical and
mineralogical specimens. Soon he was contributing articles to the
“New York Mirror.” The care of the nursery prevented Down¬
ing from devoting a larger part of his time to literary labor. His
first book was completed, however, in 1841. Perhaps the most
penetrating and all-inclusive definition of landscape gardening
which occurs in his works is recorded in his essay, “Hints of Land¬
scape Gardening.” His “The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America”
( 1845) made him the recognized early authority on the subject.

As the years went by European honors came to the young gar¬
dener of the Hudson Valley. As an editor and author he became
widely known. Books followed in rapid succession until his knowl¬
edge of architecture was surpassed only by his acumen as a “hor¬
ticulturist.” When Congress resolved to turn the public grounds
in Washington into a public garden and promenade, Downing was
selected by the President, in April, 1851, to design the arrangement
of the grounds and to direct the work. The capital city today has
honored his memory with a statue. His life was destined, how¬
ever, soon to be cut off by the fateful accident of the steamer
“Henry ClayJ’ in July, 1852, Mr. Downing being one of those who
was drowned while attempting to save others. As one of her most
illustrious citizens, Mr. Downing has been remembered by the peo¬
ple of Newburgh, whose scenic park overlooking the Fishkill hills
and the Hudson bears his name.

Perhaps no man of the past has made the history of Orange
County more widely known than the historian, Edward M. Rutten-
ber. Samuel W. Eager was the county’s first historian. He pub¬
lished his history in the winter of 1846-47. Thirteen years later
Mr. Ruttenber followed with a “History of the Town of New¬
burgh,” which was amplified and extended to cover the entire
county in 1875. From that time on Mr. Ruttenber became the
recognized historian of the county. Briefly sketched, Mr. Rut-
tenber’s life was spent mainly as a newspaper editor and publisher.
Coming to Newburgh from Bennington, Vermont, where he was
born July 17, 1824, he was in 1838 apprenticed to Charles U. Cush¬
man, who conducted “The Newburgh Telegraph.” In the years
that followed young Ruttenber became identified with various
newspapers, owning many of them. Among his published works
may be mentioned: “History of Newburgh,” 1859; “History of

588

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

the Flags of New York’s Regiments,” 1865; “History of the
Indian Tribes of Hudson’s River,” 1872; “History of Orange
County,” 1881; “Indian Geographical Names,” 1906, and “His¬
tory of New Windsor,” 1912, a posthumous volume. Mr. Rutten-
ber died December 4, 1907.

Few sections of the county have been without men of distinc¬
tion in sundry walks and professions of life. Some have been
native born; others have made the county their residence for short
or long periods. For example, John Burroughs, the famous natu¬
ralist, then unknown, in 1872, was appointed receiver of the Wall-
kill Bank. He resided in Middletown for many months. Zane
Grey, the famous novelist, came to Middletown in 1917 and
remained two years. The celebrated American humorist and
political writer, David Ross Locke, whose pen-name was Petroleum
Vesuvius Nasby, also lived in Middletown in 1851, and Stephen
Crane, novelist and poet, was a resident of Port Jervis in the early
nineties. Then there was Hopkinson Smith, the author-artist, who
in his younger days lived in Newburgh, and in Cornwall on the
Hudson such names as N. P. Willis, editor and author; Edward
Payson Roe, clergyman and widely known novelist; Lyman Abbott,
who succeeded Henry Ward Beecher, in Plymouth Church, Brook¬
lyn, and was editor of the “Outlook”; and Amelia E. Barr, whose
novels numbered among the seventies.

The older townships were settled by families many of whom
with their descendants became leaders in their respective commu¬
nities. A few such names may be mentioned here : In Deerpark,
the Codebecs, the Swartwouts, the Gumaers; in Montgomery,
the Coldens, the Barbers, the Millers; in Goshen, the Dennes, the
Cromelines, the Tustens, and the Wisners; in Warwick, the
DeKays, the Burts, the Sewards; in Chester, the Yelvertons, and
Hector St. John, who came from France, lived in the town before
the Revolutionary War, and whose writings have become classics
of their type; in Blooming Grove, the Matthews, the Blaggs, the
Howells; in Hamptonburgh, the Bulls and the Booths; in Wawa-
yanda, the Dentons and the Stickneys, one of whom wrote a history
of the Minisink region; in Cornwall, the Southerlands, the Sack-
etts, the Sands; and in New Windsor, the Ellisons, the Clintons,
the Brewsters, to name only a few. The Clintons have been treated
elsewhere.

ORANGE COUNTY

589

Samuel Brewster, however, became an inhabitant of New
Windsor around 1743. It is said he was in direct line from Elder
William Brewster, of Plymouth Colony fame. At the foot of
Forge Hill he established a sawmill, which soon gave place to a
forge and anchor-shop, at which during the war a considerable
portion of the chains were made which were used to obstruct navi¬
gation of the river at Fort Montgomery and at West Point.

Revolutionary Hut and Monument at Temple Hill

Samuel Brewster’s fourth child and second daughter was
named Abigail. She married Jonas Williams, who had been in
business with his father-in-law, and who later with his wife and
seven children occupied the old Brewster house opposite the forge,
a house more or less identified with the Revolutionary War, and
which is said to have concealed, in a vault in the cellar, money desig¬
nated as the “Dutch loan.” Some of the old brick from one of the
fireplaces in the Brewster-Williams house, now no longer stand¬
ing, went into the fireplace of the famous Revolutionary Hut on
Temple Hill. This is the only original hut extant which once
housed officers of Washington’s army, an illustration of which
is shown herewith.

■

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v ■ •

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. . *•,

. •

CHAPTER X

Conclusion

Horn

CHAPTER X

Conclusion

We have followed in succinct outline, while including, we trust,
the salient features deemed essential to a comprehensive survey
and completeness of purview, the saga of Orange County, tracing
that story back to the days when the red man roamed undisturbed
in his native forest. We have seen him resenting the intrusion of
the European when he sought to restrict the physical rights and
freedom of action of the savage ; we have noted also, with the com¬
ing of increasing numbers of white men, how the Indians gradually
withdrew to more distant sections of their primeval domain, and
how finally they allied themselves with forces to augment their
strength. We have seen how in desperation, struggling for free¬
dom and scope, they joined in alliances first with France, then with
England, to stem the oncoming tides of aggression, and of how
they themselves became the uncompromising aggressors, inflicting
with terrific blows measures of retaliation upon innocent victims
living in back settlements of the county.

Unless one is familiar with the precarious adventures, the hair¬
breadth escapes, the cruel atrocities resulting from the scalping
knife of the treacherous Indian, sometimes goaded on by faithless
Tories, who often aimed to surpass the red man in his conscienceless
leanings to inflict pain, rapine, and even murder, one can gain but
little conception of life on the fringes of civilization anterior to
and during our American Revolutionary War as the early settlers
of Orange County experienced them.

We have seen that the county early became a territory eagerly
sought by those who wanted to control her land and assets mt>re
than any desire on their part to people it. So early as 1684, the

S.E.N.Y.— 38

b94

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Governor of the Province, Colonel Thomas Dongan, purchased
from its original owners, the Indians, two large tracts of land com¬
prising territory now included in three counties, Ulster, Orange,
and Rockland ; when this tract of land fell into the hands of Cap¬
tain John Evans, some years later, to which he gave the high-
sounding name of “The Lordship and Manor of Fletcherdon,” to
honor his friend and benefactor, Governor Fletcher, he claimed
that it extended from New Paltz to Stony Point, and for thirty
miles inland.

We have noted also that Captain Evans was not permitted by
the English Government to retain this vast amount of territory,
and that later it was divided into smaller sections with patent
rights, and that with the MacGregorie migration upon the Moodna
(Murderer’s Creek) and his company of Presbyterian emigrants
from Scotland, we have the first white settlement within the range
of the present boundary of the county of Orange.

Much important local history occurred in this immediate
region, not to mention one of its leading traditions : indeed, the
very name of Murderer’s Creek is said to be derived from the fact
that an Indian massacre took place upon its borders. Near to its
outlet into the Hudson a family of the name of Stacy had estab¬
lished itself in a log house by special permission of the local Indians
with whom Stacy was on most friendly terms because he had been
useful to them in a number of ways. Besides Stacy and his wife
were two small children, a boy and a girl.

A warm friendship had sprung up between an old Indian,
Naoman by name, who made frequent visits to the Stacy cabin.
One day, in the absence of Stacy, Naoman came to the hut, lighted
his long stem pipe, and sat down without uttering a word. Mrs.
Stacy asked him if he were ill. He sighed, but said nothing, and
soon departed. The following day he returned in the same mood;
after this had been repeated several times and Stacy had been con¬
sulted by his wife, it was decided that she would ask him the reason
for his strange manner, because both parties professed to be
friends. Finally the story came out from him reluctantly. The
Indian was the white man’s enemy, and white-face women were not
good in keeping secrets; if he told her it would cost him his life.
But she promised to keep the secret whatever happened. The

ORANGE COUNTY

595

Indians were planning to kill all the white people within the section
because of a grudge inspired by some grievance, and because of
their mutual friendship Naoman wanted the Stacys to flee to
safety, which they attempted to do, only to be overtaken on the
river as they were nearing the Fishkill shore; they were brought
back, and a council was held to ascertain how the Stacys came to
know the plans of the Indians.

The prisoners were examined with Naoman’s consent, he act¬
ing as the interpreter. Throughout the ordeal, with mounting

(Courtesy of The Histori cil Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands)

Edmonston House, Town of New Windsor

threat that they and their children would be massacred, the Stacys
true to their word would not betray their informant. Even when
Naoman himself ventured to have them name the Indian who
informed them of the approaching capture, not a word was spoken
by either. The agony of the mother was intense as she appealingly
looked up into the face of the old Indian, who gravely sat nearby
smoking his pipe. A pause ensued as they waited for some sign
that one or the other of the Stacys would speak. Two stalwart

596

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Indians with raised tomahawks stood above the children ready to
sacrifice them, as they pleaded not to be killed. Out of the silence
came the round deep tones of Naoman crying, “Stop.” All eyes
were now turned in his direction as he said, “White woman, thou
hast kept thy word with me to the last moment. I am the traitor.
I have eaten of the salt, warmed myself at the fire, shared the kind¬
ness of these Christian white people, and it was I that told them of
their danger. I am an old man, my days are numbered, like a
withered, leafless, branchless trunk, cut me down if you will. I
am ready.”

With these words he stepped down from the banks of the stream
where he had sat, concealed his face with his mantle of skins, and
as the tomahawk was raised fell lifeless at the feet of the white
woman. This confession on the part of Naoman, however, did not
save the lives of the Stacys and others ; all perished by the stream
which did for years, and still does, in spite of Nathaniel Parker
Willis’ more musical appellation of Moodna, go by the name of
Murderer’s Creek.

As this part of the present county of Orange was the first to be
inhabited, it is not strange that it should bear so prominent a part in
the period of the Revolutionary War many years later, for in the
neighborhood of the Moodna ran the direct road to the last encamp¬
ment grounds of Washington’s army, and on old Forge Hill Road,
through its deep gorges and hilly paths, walked the soldiers of lib¬
erty. The John Ellison house, army headquarters of Generals
Knox, Greene, and Gates, is still standing, in addition to other
dwellings in the neighborhood of Colonial and Revolutionary fame.
The onrushing current of the Moodna, threading its way to the
Hudson below, passes many a historic site written high on the
scrolls of the country’s history.

It is interesting to observe that settlements did not spring up in
immediately adjacent territory; for the next section of the county
to be populated was to the extreme west of the Hudson in the
vicinity of the Delaware River. This section to this day is replete
with Indian legends, many of which have been collected and pub¬
lished in book form. Scalping parties were freer to effect their
diabolical design in these more restricted outposts where the inhabi¬
tants were few and far between, and when scalps were, during the

ORANGE COUNTY

597

war, taken to Canada and sold ; it may be noted here that a person
of color was generally left unharmed by the Indian. Two theories
have been advanced for this: one, that the Negro was regarded by
the Indian as of inferior race; the other, that no bounty was paid
by the British for black scalps, thus making the barter purely a
mercenary transaction.

Thus the county as a whole has its Revolutionary traditions, its
thrilling tales of adventure, its sacred historic shrines, the por¬
trayals of which have descended from parent to child down the
years. Many of them are recorded in local history of the cities,
towns and villages in the county, in contemporary letters and
diaries and in military orderly books of the period. The county is
rich in these data, but has fared less conspicuously, for example,
than the valley of the Mohawk. What has come to public notice,
however, makes for dramatic reading, and establishes beyond con¬
jecture the fortitude, the simplicity, the genuineness of the men
and women, pioneers in the best sense of the term, who lived and
wrought that their children might be free to live and work untram¬
meled by the dictation of a foreign power. Freedom to govern by
majority rule ultimately became their objective.

It must not be forgotten that while the Revolutionary War was
in progress, in the counties of the State, and Orange and her neigh¬
bors were no exception to the rule, there were destructive forces, of
no mean consequence, attempting to discourage and to thwart the
patriotic motives and ardent efforts of the colonists, and that many
of these insidious designs were prosecuted clandestinely, persist¬
ently, and vigorously, thus greatly adding to the difficulty of creat¬
ing a republic, and on the other hand, that Loyalists, of whom
there were many, were by no means always treated judiciously, nor
fairly.

In the last phase of the war, upon ground which has been
included in Orange County since 1788, was located the last canton¬
ment of the Revolutionary Army. Here, from October 28, 1782,
to June 23, 1783, thousands of Washington’s troops were quar¬
tered. The period looms up in history as a most significant one, a
period which historians have quite generally strangely neglected.
General Washington, quartered in the old stone Hasbrouck house,
a quarter of a mile south of the settlement of Newburgh, to which

598 SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

he had come on April i, 1782, accompanied by Lady Washington,
taking frequent rides to the camp ground three and a half to four
miles to the southwest in the town of New Windsor, was perfectly
aware of the general unrest among the officers at camp concerning
the failure of Congress to meet its obligations on the pay question.

He had not been two months in Newburgh before he had con¬
crete evidence of the symptoms of unrest by the receipt of a letter
from Colonel Louis Nicola, who chanced at the time to be quartered
across the river at Fishkill, to which he had responded in no uncer¬
tain terms ; a letter, moreover, the receipt of which was unknown
to the public in Washington’s lifetime, save by those of his imme¬
diate official family, who were pledged to secrecy. This was eight
months before the army came up the Hudson from the east side of
the river around Verplanck’s Point and. created the camp upon
ground in old Ulster (now Orange) County at present known as
Temple Hill.

But time only increased the tension which had been lying dor¬
mant. . It was now the spring of 1783. The Continental troops
numbered between seven and eight thousand. Among the officers
there evolved and spread a dangerous current of discontent which
with some included the Commander-in-Chief as well, due to a lack
of positive action by Congress, and to his (Washington’s) con¬
servative attitude. Forcing the issue, with sundry schemes held
feasible, if necessary, it was at last brought out into the open by a
most unmilitary procedure, that of calling a meeting of the officers
at the Temple without consulting the Commander-in-Chief, then at
his headquarters only a few miles away.

When General Washington belatedly was advised of the situa¬
tion he at once took matters into his own hands and postponed the
meeting four days. It was the fifteenth day of March, 1783. At
noon the officers assembled in the Temple, which had primarily
been erected for religious services, but which proved to be an army
center. How sweeping his influence and how supreme his leader¬
ship is attested by the result. Here, facing a doubtful audience,
because of the acute circumstances, Washington by a dramatic and
compelling appeal, tinctured by firm speech, and reinforced by his
own intrepid and fair-minded character, mastered the situation,
and brought a restoration of faith and loyalty in the justice of

ORANGE COUNTY

599

their cause for which they together had battled their way to free¬
dom. In that dark hour, and none for the moment seemed darker,
through the capable handling by a prudent anl sagacious leader,
the embryonic Republic of the United States of America was spir¬
itually reborn.

A movement was started ten years ago to make of this spot
where the Temple stood and where other momentous Revolution¬
ary events occurred, a national shrine, by erecting a replica of the

Entrance to Temple Hill

Temple and in founding a school for the study of diplomacy and
international law in memory of those stalwart men who fought and
lived so fearlessly and died that their descendants might live and
reap the fruitage of a republican form of government, the seed of
which they sowed, and which we should further zealously cultivate,
guard and preserve unimpaired. In this national memorial Orange
County, especially, should take a leading part, for duty and achieve¬
ment were crowned upon her soil, and it will be an ill day when
either is forgotten.

6oo

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

The Revolutionary period in the county ultimately gave way
to a struggle of a different nature. Where the settlers’ cabins
were distances apart, and bereft of channels of communication, the
county began slowly at first to be united by improved roads over
which stagecoaches passed carrying passengers and the mails ; bet¬
ter roads and the construction of railroads eventually displaced
the stagecoach, so that freight and produce from one place to
another brought the northern and southern, the western and east¬
ern ends of the county into closer commercial communication.

We no longer have the so-called back settlements to defend nor
have we contingencies to divert us from cultivating our resources.
The county has steadily become a more thickly populated territory,
in which business enterprises have expanded and professional
standards have broadened. When we look back to the census of
1702 we find that the numerical growth of the county during the
century succeeding the discovery, exclusive of MacGregorie set¬
tlement, was recorded as forty-nine men between the ages of six¬
teen and sixty; five men above sixty; forty married women and
widows ; fifty-seven male children and eighty-four maids and girls ;
thirteen Negroes, seven Negresses, and thirteen Negro children, or
a total of 268. In 1800 the population of the new county of Orange
stood at 44,175. The last census of 1940 brought the population of
the county to 140,113.

But it is not to population, nor to wealth, nor to business enter¬
prise, but to culture, to education and to spiritual values that we
must look if we are to continue to be a county proud of our best
traditions and worthy of our aspiring future.

Thus, the wide acres of a century ago, and their forests cleared
by the industry of the hardy pioneer with his generally wholesome
outlook upon life, have been converted into cultivated and up-to-
date farms with homes whose accessories would astonish our
forefathers. Accessible to well-constructed highways, schools,
churches, hospitals, movie houses and lines of travel, the farmer
today with his car and radio has all the comforts of his city brother,
and still maintains his independent course of living.

While only three cities are credited to Orange County, villages
and towns vie with each other in the maintenance of social and
economic prestige. Yet the rural communities far exceed in num-

ORANGE COUNTY

601

ber the more populated centers, and to these the county looks for
its productive resources. Garden products, small fruit farms and
large dairies have made Orange County one of outstanding promi¬
nence in these fields of endeavor.

But what of the future? To whom can we look to lead the
way? It cannot come through the channel of politics, for politics
as practiced by the average politician is based upon unabashed sel¬
fishness, and citizens generally are so unconcerned or at least not
willing to voice their critical sentiments in an effective manner,
that the ambitious politician has only to fight it out with other
ambitious politicians, with too little thought in regard to legislation
which would redound wholly to the interest not only of constituents
but of the people generally. I have before me, as I write, private
letters written from Albany in 1820 to a public official of Orange
County, and by their perusal the game of politics is about on a
level where it always has been, if not in the old days having been
a little lower.

No, our spirits should not t?e tied to the past, merely because
we speak of the past as the good old days. In many respects they
were not so good as the present day with all the reasons for
improvement thrown in, especially in county government, where
reform so sorely is needed.

Libraries in the county have continually increased the number
of their volumes and readers, and today there are five historical
societies in the county, which during the past few years have
grown in influence, in the accumulation of relics and rare docu¬
ments, not to mention property which some of them have acquired,
either through purchase or by gift. Such centers speak well for
the future of the county, every one of which throughout the State
should have a county historian which at present the County Board
of Supervisors has the right to appoint. Much of valuable data
in the way of old manuscripts, letters and other source material
have in the past been destroyed because no one took an interest in
rescuing them and in placing them where they might be preserved
in the interest of local history. But the average Board of County
Supervisors appears to have little interest in such matters and less
vision, and so the assembling of such data is left to individuals

602

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

who appreciate the value and rich assets of such historical material,
but who have not generally the means of cataloguing them.

While any number of separate histories dealing with the cities
and towns of Orange County have been published, only four gen¬
eral histories of the county have appeared and each of these more
or less has been restricted to its own narrow field of operation.
For example, the first history of the county was by Samuel W.

(Courtesy of The Historical Society of
Newburgh Bay and the Highlands )

Orange County’s First Historian, Samuel W. Eager

Eager, issued in 1846-47. As he himself wrote it was aimed to be
only an outline of the history of Orange County. It was a most
worthy attempt, however, to put on record information which
otherwise undoubtedly would have been lost. But interested
parties endeavoring to get their names and records to the notice of
the historians are not always apt to be impartial. Mr. Eager

ORANGE COUNTY

603

worked largely without source material at hand, and errors natu¬
rally crept into his work. The time of this publication worked
both to an advantage and to a disadvantage, the first that he was
near enough to the Revolutionary days to be able to draw upon
the memory of those who participated in that struggle; secondly,
it worked to a disadvantage because documentary evidence was not
available; and when men undertake to recall the past, age is sel¬
dom conducive to the impartation of accurate knowledge.

A dozen years after Eager’s history appeared the history of
the town of Newburgh, by Edward M. Ruttenber, the county’s
most painstaking historian, was published. Both Eager’s and Rut-
tenber’s histories ran serially in newspapers. In 1875 Mr. Rutten¬
ber reissued, with much added material, his 1859 volume, with
corrections embracing also the county of Orange. In 1881, he in
collaboration with L. H. Clark, compiled a history of the county
with town histories added, comprising a volume of over eight hun¬
dred pages. All of these works are out of print, to be examined
chiefly in libraries, together with the history of the county edited by
Russel Headley, published in 1891.

Thus for over fifty years no adequate history of Orange
County has been written. The time is ripe for some painstaking
historian to undertake the work, for since the days of the histories
recorded above much material has come to light which hitherto has
not been available.

The preceding pages might have been unfolded to greater
length. But there was no need to amplify what already has been
pointed out. The labors and accomplishments of the pioneer and
of his descendants, together with the ever-increasing flow of immi¬
gration, embracing people from well nigh every race and creed in
their sundry vocations and avocations, their amusements and dis¬
similitudes, present a picture vital in character and all-inclusive in
scope. Orange County has had her share of the heterogeneous
compound of racial elements which, fused together in the bonds of
civic loyalty and good citizenship, we like to call Americans.

Rich in historic significance, romantic in retrospect, alluring
in scenic beauty, progressive in commercial enterprise, the county
depends in the future, as she has relied in the past, upon her citi-

604

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

zens to maintain her standards and to promote her progress. May
she be as fortunate in the days to come, as she has been in the days
that have gone, and may her future leaders never fail to enhance
her interest, her culture, her prosperity.

Southeastern New York

Rockland County

Rev. A. Elwood Corning, Editor
Floyd McKnight , Compiler

CHAPTER I

Physical Features and h.arly Social History

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CHAPTER I

Physical Features and Early Social History

Rockland County, as it has existed since it was separated from
Orange County, February 23, 1798, is a triangle whose sides are
each about twenty miles long, the most southerly of the tier of
counties on the Hudson River’s west bank. The history of the
region dates back, however, far beyond the time of its official
creation as a governmental unit. The major part of the story of
those who lived here before the Europeans came is lost in uncer¬
tainty. For thousands of years the American residents here were
unknown to the rest of the world. Only a few monuments of the
cave-dwellers and the mound-builders remain to give a hint of their
culture. Civilizations had risen and fallen on these shores before
the missionary trip of Hui Shen and his Buddhist monks from
China in the fifth century or the coming of Leif Ericsson and the
Viking visitors about 1000 A. D. America had experienced her
own Babylons and Ninevehs.

But the first history of settlers of European stock in what is
now Rockland County began September 14, 1609, with the advent
of Henry Hudson to the shores of the Tappan Zee, or Haverstraw
Bay, of the Hudson. The Hudson River, which forms Rockland’s
western border and divides it from Westchester County, took its
name, of course, from Hudson. The river’s widest stretch is
exactly at this stage of its course. Here it expands to form two
broad lakes. Tappan Zee, the more southerly of these, is separated
from Haverstraw Bay, as the more northerly one is called, by
Croton Point, in Westchester. Near the northern end of Rockland
County, where this wide and lakelike portion of the river becomes
narrow, lies Iona Island, once called Man-a-ha-wagh-kin by the

S.E.N.Y. — 39

6io

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Indians, but given its present name by Dr. C. W. Grant, who inher¬
ited it from his father-in-law. In the middle of the last century
George Weyant raised fruits here, and after him it was called
Weyant’s Island. The celebrated Iona grape originated here.
Under Dr. Grant the island became an excursion resort, and in
1900 the United States Government bought it for use as a naval
magazine and storehouse.

From this island to Anthony’s Nose the river is not more than
three-eighths of a mile wide, but the channel is deep and current

Hook Mountain, Above Nyack

so swift that the reach is called “The Race.” The Palisades, fort¬
ress-like escarpments of traprock, come to an abrupt northern
end at Haverstraw. Looking northward and westward from
High Tor (850 feet above sea level), above Haverstraw, one sees
flat and rolling land to the north and west, surrounded by a semi¬
circle of rugged mountains that have been violently heaved up
from rocky depths. In this area of the Hudson, where the waters
run swift and dash their white-crested waves against a rocky isle,
the sound reverberates like thunderclaps from the sides of Dunder-

ROCKLAND COUNTY

61 1

berg, or the “Mountain of Thunder,” giving warning of approach¬
ing storms. Early Dutch navigators were alarmed by these fright¬
ening signal-sounds in the territory comprising what they called
the “River of the Mountains.” Tales are told of an old Dutch
goblin, in trunk hose and sugar-loaf hat, with speaking trumpet in
his hand, who in the turmoil of storm gave orders, which river
captains could hear, for the blowing of a windy gust or the rattling
off of another thunderclap. Legend has it that “sometimes he has
been surrounded by a crew of little imps in broad breeches and
short doublets, tumbling head over heels in the rack and moist, and
playing a thousand gambols in the air, or buzzing like a thousand
flies about Anthony’s Nose.” In those times the “hurry-scurry” of
the storm was greatest.

Tappan, Nyack, Haver straw and other Rockland County
names are of Indian origin. Three great Indian nations — the
Iroquois, the Mohicans and the Lenni-Lenapes (or Delawares) —
inhabited this region of the Hudson Valley. The Lenni-Lenapes,
a name suggesting “original” or “unmixed” people, lived in all the
region from the Catskills to the Potomac. They had their ancient
council fire at what is now Philadelphia, on the bank of the Lenape-
wihituk, or Delaware, River. They were subdivided into the
Unami, the Unalachto and the Minsi (Turtle, Turkey and Wolf)
tribes, each with a chief and, under him, counsellors. When Henry
Hudson first came up the river, then called Shatemuc, the region
was inhabited mainly by two races of the Algonquin tribes, the
Mohegans on the east and the Minsies on the west, who were fre¬
quently at war with one another. There were further subdivisions
in these tribes. The Tappans, for instance, held the land beginning
at Hook Mountain and extending southward as far as Tappan vil¬
lage, perhaps to Staten Island, but particularly along the shores of
Tappan Zee and westward therefrom. They had friendly alliances
with the Raritans and the Hackensacks. Haverstraws had as their
domain the present confines of Haverstraw and Stony Point town¬
ships. Another tribe was the Nyacks. Only such remnants as
arrow points, broken pottery, charcoal and old bones, now and then
unearthed by archaeologists, attest the civilization that once existed
here. At a meeting of the Rockland County Conservation Asso¬
ciation, July 26, 1940, James Burggraf, of the American Museum

6l2

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

of Natural History, New York, declared that many Indian villages
lie buried beneath the villages of today.

In the early days of the white man’s advent in this region, rela¬
tions between European sailors and the children of the Indian for¬
ests were friendly. It is difficult to tell what trivial incidents occur
to mar such amicable relationships ; but such incidents seem always
to occur, then the resulting strain is aggravated by the divergences
of customs, cultures and interests. Stories are told of how fre¬
quently the Indians rushed out on shore to greet strange ships of
European visitors, and evidently the greetings became less friendly
after it was clear that the Europeans, after their trading, usually
went away with huge cargoes of furs and valuables. It was the
fashion among earlier historians to write of the American Indians
as “savages/’ “barbarians” and the like; but a more seasoned
examination of records of past events gives rise to considerable
doubt as to whether the onus of strained relationships rests with
the Indian or with his European successors on this continent. Cer¬
tainly by the time Henry Hudson’s “Half Moon” sailed up the
river past Tappan Zee, the Indians had heard many rumors of
white visitors. There had been Columbus in 1492, followed by
other Spaniards and by Englishmen and Portuguese. There was
in those times a passion for adventure, and it was the pleasure of
monarchs to send out ships on voyages of discovery. The English
settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, had taken place two years
before Hudson’s visit, and the French flag was already flying over
Canada when the Dutch appeared on Manhattan Island and north¬
ward up the “River of the Mountains.”

The pleasant relations between the Indians and the whites were
abruptly terminated soon after Hudson’s arrival. On the night of
September 13, 1609, the “Half Moon” cast anchor in sight of, and
about fifteen miles below, Hook Mountain, where the Palisades
reach their greatest magnitude. For eleven days she lay there,
watched from the Rockland County heights by the curious Tap-
pans; then she sailed on northward and disappeared through
Haverstraw Bay. At noon on October 1 she reappeared at the
head of Haverstraw Bay and came to anchor near Stony Point,
in what is now northern Rockland. It was at Stony Point that an
agile Indian climbed unobserved up the rudder of the “Half

ROCKLAND COUNTY

613

Moon” and into a cabin window, after which he is said to have
made off with a few souvenirs such as a pillow and some clothing.
When a mate of the ship detected him, he shot the Indian dead.
The other Indians fled, some jumping from the deck into the
water. The goods were recovered by a crew of the ship, but as the
white crew was returning an Indian in the water laid hold of
the boat, whereupon the cook lopped off his hand with a sword.
The Indian sank in the river, never to rise again. These were the
first Indians killed by Europeans on the Hudson River. The
“Half Moon” then made southward about five miles; but the
shedding of blood had made the Indians into bitter enemies, and
the next day, twenty miles farther south, the “Half Moon” was
fiercely attacked. Two canoes, filled with armed warriors, put out
from shore and fired a shower of arrows. The whites replied with
bullets, hitting three Indians and repulsing the others. From the
nearest land more than one hundred foes pushed off toward the
“Half Moon,” which directed a cannon shot into their midst and
killed two. The Indians were more alarmed by the thunder of the
cannon than by its effects, for the hills reechoed the blast. Regain¬
ing courage, nine or ten Indians once more defied the ship from a
canoe. A huge projectile hurled forth in fire and smoke crashed
through the canoe and the body of one of the warriors. Indian
humanity could not withstand the ordeal of this unheard-of kind of
warfare ; and after the survivors had swum ashore under gunfire,
which killed three or four more, no further assault was made.
Those Indians were of the Haverstraw tribe.

Indians remained in control of the Rockland area, however,
until well after 1700. Practically all the patents secured by dif¬
ferent persons, including the tracts of De Harte, Jenson, Orange-
town, Quaspeck, Kakiat and Wawayanda, dating from 1666 to
1703, were purchased from the tribes who held the lands. These
earlier land purchases by white men were probably mainly for
speculative purposes and were made by individuals who never saw
their property nor did anything to further its development. The
willingness of the Indians to part with large tracts for only a few
dollars, as well as the proximity of New Amsterdam, which by
1680 had given every assurance of permanence, were factors lead¬
ing to the acquisition of land by speculators. Orange County,

614

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

from which Rockland was formed a century or more later, was a
wilderness with hardly a person of European stock residing within
its boundaries when it was erected in 1683. Even ten years later
there were twenty families in this area of 823 square miles. In
1702 there were 268.

It was about 1666 that the Haverstraw Indians sold a large
tract of river front land to Balthazer De Harte, a New York mer¬
chant, whom they left in undisputed possession. In 1683 they sold
another large tract to Stephen Van Cortlandt, this one extending
“from the south side of a creek called Senkapough, west to the
head thereof, then northerly along the high hills as the river
runneth to another creek called Assinapink, thence along the same
to Hudson’s river.” The Indian signer of these deeds was Saekag-
kemeck, long the Haverstraw sachem. Other prominent tribes¬
men were Roansameck, Kewegham and Kackeros. Another name
of the Haverstraw tribe was Rumachenack. Just to the north of
the Haverstraws were the Waoranecks, whose northern boundary
was Dans Kammer Point.

All through these early years of settlement by the Dutch, a
gradual change took place in the whole mode of life in the area. It
is a long step from the Indians’ bark houses, held together by a
framework of poles, to the wooden, stone and brick dwellings of
the present day; from the tribal customs of painting one’s face
black for mourning or red for war to the up-to-the-minute use of
rouge and lipstick; or from the ancient tribal system of personally
avenging a crime down to the present arrangement of courts of
justice. Colonists have left ample testimony, however, that “not
half so many murders and villainies were committed among the
savages as among Christians.” Going to war, with the Indians,
was figuratively termed “taking up the hatchet.” The sentiment
of the following prayer does not echo very differently in the mind
from what a man might utter today in a more modern era of wars
and mass conflict :

“O poor me !

Who am going out to fight the enemy,

And know not whether I shall return again,

To enjoy the embraces of my children
And my wife.

ROCKLAND COUNTY

615

O poor creature !

Whose lkfe is not in his own hands,

Who has no power over his own body,

But tries to do his duty,

For the welfare of his nation.

O thou Great Spirit above,

Take pity on my children
And on my wife.

Prevent their mourning on my account,

Grant that I may be successful in this attempt,

That I may slay my enemy,

And bring home the trophies of war
To my dear family and friends,

That we may rejoice together.

O take pity on me !

Give me strength and courage
To meet my enemy.

Suffer me to return again to my children
And to my wife,

And to my relations.

Take pity on me and preserve my life,

And I will make thee a sacrifice.”

An Indian war song has been translated in the following elo¬
quent words:

“The bones of your murdered countrymen lie uncov¬
ered and demand revenge at our hands ; their spirits loudly
call upon us, and we must obey; still greater spirits watch¬
ing over our honor inspire us to go in pursuit of the slay¬
ers of our brethren. Let us follow their trail and devour

them! .... Do not sit inactive . Follow the

impulse of your hereditary valor. Paint your faces, fill
your quivers, make the woods echo with shouts for revenge !
Comfort the spirits of the deceased and revenge their
blood.”

War was now to tear the whole Hudson River area, first among
the Indian tribes themselves, then between the Indians and the
Dutch. The activities of the Dutch fur traders helped to produce
this strife. In 1632 the exports from New Netherlands totaled
more than fifteen thousand skins, most of them beaver. The

6i6

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Indians on the lower river made frequent trips to the fort on Man¬
hattan Island to deliver their furs, while mflre distant nations
made annual journeys for this purpose. As a result of this trading
activity, the tribes spent much more time in the hunting field, kill¬
ing and trapping wild animals for the skins. At that period good
feeling prevailed on all sides, and the Manhattan Island fort was
allowed to go to decay, open at all sides and the guns off' their
carriages.

The Dutch government at Amsterdam gave a special exclusive
trading right to one firm; but many individuals disregarded this
charter and engaged openly in fur trading on their own account,
often obtaining better skins than the company could buy. Some
of the free traders established large plantations with their profits.
And as the Dutch and the Indians came into ever closer relation¬
ship, grievances arose among them, such as too frequent visits by
Indians to white men’s cabins or the trampling of an Indian’s
cornfield by a stranger’s cattle. The authorities at New Amster¬
dam then decided to levy a tax of corn, furs or wampum against
the original holders of the land — a measure designed, they claimed,
to support the military establishment by which the Indians were
protected from their enemies.

Such matters were subjects of discussion around the tribal
council-fires. One particular subject of discussion, too, was the
report that the Dutch were supplying abundant firearms to the
Mohawks to the exclusion of the other tribes. The Unamis and
the Mohicans were, for instance, unable to obtain any arms. The
Dutch director-general, William Kieft, had forbidden the furnish¬
ing of arms to natives under penalty of death, but either he coun¬
tenanced the sale of arms to the Mohawks or else was unable to
prevent such sale. The river tribes appealed in vain to the Dutch
authorities against this discriminatory sale, but could obtain no
satisfaction. Any Mohawk who had twenty beaver skins could
exchange them for a musket at any free trader’s house in his coun¬
try, and the equivalent of ten or twelve guilders bought a pound
of powder. Private individuals, eager for profit, imported guns
and ammunition from Holland in large quantities and thus dis¬
posed of them to the Mohawks, who soon were well defended, while
the river tribes were defenseless.

ROCKLAND COUNTY

617

The natural result followed. The Mohawks loosed their fury
against their neighbors, first along the St. Lawrence and the Great
Lakes. The Tappans had, meanwhile, been annoyed by the par¬
tiality of the Dutch for the Iroquois federation ; and, aggravating
matters, the Dutch director-general determined to collect a tribute
of corn, furs and wampum from the Tappans. In an armed sloop
he set out to achieve this end. The Tappans let the Dutch know
their feelings in no uncertain terms, and the tax was not collected
nor any violence offered the Indians at the time. One Tappan
chief characterized the Dutch as “men of blood,” and diplomatic
relations worsened, to use a more recent phraseology. Until then
the Hudson River Indians had never harmed the white men. But
the director-general, on returning to Manhattan from his visit to
the Tappans, ordered a mobilization of troops and the arming of
the fort. He further ordered every civilian to provide himself
with a gun, and instructed the people in general to hasten at once
to the fort if they should hear three cannon shots.

Though Kieft, the director-general, took this attitude, others
among the Dutch were of milder inclinations, notably Captain
David Peterson De Vries, who had been a resident of this country
from 1630. He and seven other directors of the Dutch West
India Company had established along the Delaware River a colony
which was wiped out by the Indians while he was on a visit to his
Dutch homeland. He had also an estate on Manhattan Island and
owned land on Staten Island. He now bought Tappan from the
Indians, not for his own residence, but as the site of a colony.
This colony became, in 1641, the first white settlement in what is
now Rockland County. It was called Vriesendale. Later he and
his brother Frederick, who was secretary of the city of Amster¬
dam, Holland, and a manager of the West India Company, became
partners. Then another colony was established within an hour's
walk of the first one, this one being set up by Myndert Myndertsen
van der Horst, who came from Utrecht, Holland. Each of the
colonies became a trading post. De Vries also had a plantation on
Staten Island. When some swine were missing there one morning
in 1640, Kieft ordered that the Raritan Indians be punished and
sent soldiers against the most accessible Raritan village. Kieft’s
own men, it seems, had committed the depredations ; but, despite

6i8

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

the Indians’ offer to make good a loss for which they were in no
way responsible, the soldiers fell upon them, killed several, and
burned their crops. The Raritans, in revenge, destroyed De Vries’
plantation on Staten Island when opportunity permitted, and killed
four of his planters. Kieft left this crime unpunished for some
reason, but this time offered a reward of ten fathoms of wampum
for the head of every Raritan — a reward which, it appears, was
claimed but once, when a Haverstraw tribesman came to the fort
with the head of a dead man fastened to a stick. Tradition holds
that the head was that of the Raritan chieftain and that he who
brought it was a Haverstraw chief, desirous of evidencing his
friendship for the “Swannekins,” as the Indians called the Dutch.
Accounts were thus squared, and the pipe of peace was smoked
by the Dutch and the Raritans.

The Tappans and Haverstraws lived mostly at peace with the
Dutch until 1643, when a beaver-skin coat was stolen from an Indian
at Hackensack. Dutch liquor had so stupefied a young Hackensack
tribesman that, when he came to his senses and missed his coat, he
accused the “Swannekins” of stealing it and swore vengeance.
Captain De Vries, coming through the woods near Vriesendale,
met the enraged Indian, who, sparing De Vries because he was
“a good chief,” nevertheless announced his aim of vengeance. A
few hours later he kept his vow by slaying an innocent immigrant.

The countryside was quickly in -arms. The Haverstraws dis¬
avowed the deed of the young Indian. Captain De Vries took an
Indian deputation to Kieft, the director-general, accompanying
them to assure their safety; but Kieft refused any kind of money
reparations and insisted that only punishment of the murderer
would serve in such a case. The Indians could not punish him
according to their code because he was a chief’s son ; and, anyway,
he had fled to the mountains. Oritany, the Hackensack sachem,
one of the most renowned of all Indian chieftains, regretted the
crime, but said “the Swannekins ought not to sell fire-water to our
young men to make them crazy. Your own people fight with
knives and commit fooleries when drunk.” Oritany, who died
around 1660 or 1670, aged ninety years, has been called by some
the first prohibition enforcement agent in America. One of his

ROCKLAND COUNTY 619

laws was to lock up any one who drank liquor and keep the offender
locked until he confessed where he got it.

Affairs went from bad to worse. In February, 1643, one hun¬
dred Mohawks, armed with guns, fell upon and pillaged the villages
on both sides of the Hudson, south of the Highlands. Bows and
arrows were no defense against such attack, and, while those Indians
on the east side of the river fled toward Manhattan, those on the
west side fled first to Vriesendale, then to Hackensack and Pavonia.
For two weeks the Mohawks remained in the area, living on Dutch
bounty. Kieft decided, against De Vries’ advice, to punish the
river Indians for several offenses at this very touchy moment.
Maryn Andriasen, at his own request, was authorized to attack
Indians behind Corlaer’s Hook, or plantation, and Sergeant Rodolf
was dispatched with soldiers to Pavonia, where he was to destroy
Indians who were behind Jan Evertsen’s, but was “to spare, as
much as possible, their wives and children, and to take the savages
prisoners.” The official document went on on prescribe: “The
exploit is to be executed at night, with the greatest caution and
prudence. Our God may bless the expedition.”

On the night between the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth of Feb¬
ruary, Tappan and Haverstraw refugees at Pavonia, already
mourning the death of fathers and sons at the hands of the
Mohawks and suffering the privations of cold and homelessness,
were set upon and massacred. De Vries saw the tragedy at
Pavonia from a distance. Spending that night with Kieft, he said
to the director-general: “You will go to break the Indians’ heads,
but it is our nation that you are going to murder.” When the sol¬
diers left the fort, De Vries sat by the kitchen fire and waited. He
wrote in his diary :

“At midnight I heard loud shrieks, and went out to the
parapet of the fort and looked toward Pavonia. I saw
nothing but the flashing of the guns. I heard no more the
cries of the Indians. They were butchered in their sleep.”

Eighty Indians were murdered that night at Pavonia and thirty at
Corlaer’s Hook. While De Vries was still at the fort, an Indian
from Vriesendale, with his squaw, came into the room, saying:
“The Fort Orange Indians have fallen on us.” De Vries answered :

620

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

“It is no time to hide in the fort. No Indians have done this deed.
It is the work of the Swannekins — the Dutch.” He led his visi¬
tors to the gate.

The result that De Vries expected came. Although the Indians
were at first reluctant to believe that the Dutch had conducted the
massacre, they gradually accepted the inescapable truth. Eleven
tribes of them, including the Tappans and Haverstraws, allied
themselves for revenge, and the Indian war-whoop went up against
the white man. Captain De Vries’ own plantation was burned;
and only his house and workmen were saved by the intervention
of the Indian who had visited him on the night of the Pavonia mas¬
sacre. After a week of carnage, peace was restored until the fol¬
lowing September. Nine Indians killed four soldiers at Pavonia
at that time, and carried a Dutch lad captive to Tappan. The boy’s
father and the Governor asked De Vries to go to the Indians, and
De Vries and two Indians went to Tappan in a privateer, returning
safely with the child. After these many tragic experiences, De
Vries left Rockland County for Virginia, and the proprietor of
Vriesendale was seen here no more. He did not leave, however,
without a warning to Kieft as to the vengeance he was sure to
reap for all the innocent blood he had caused to be shed.

When one thousand five hundred warriors opposed three hun¬
dred Dutchmen, only fifty of them soldiers, many of the Dutch
returned to Holland in flight. The Indians swept the country and
reduced it to desolation. They had good supplies of arms which
they had captured, and even the Mohawks came to fear the river
tribes. Ammunition at Fort Amsterdam was running low, and
the fort itself would have fallen had it been attacked. Vriesendale,
the first white settlement, went down in the crash. Kieft in his
extremity asked the community to select an advisory committee.
They pleaded to Holland for help, but not without charging the
director-general with bringing on hostilities with the Indians with¬
out sufficient reason. Unexpectedly, in May, 1644, a Dutch man-
of-war landed with 150 soldiers and fifty other armed men. The
Dutch sought peace, but the war continued until August, 1645, and
during that period the Indians held all the country except Fort
Amsterdam. Fort Orange was outside the field of operations. On
August 30, 1645, after previous negotiations, a peace council of

ROCKLAND COUNTY

621

the Dutch and the Indian tribes was held at Manhattan. All vowed
to keep the peace thereafter. No white man was to go armed into
an Indian village without permission, and no armed Indian was
to approach a white man’s dwelling. On September 6 the churches
observed a general day of thanksgiving. The hatchet was buried.
The European had come to stay.

Kieft was superseded in May, 1647, by Peter Stuyvesant, who
had been in the service of the West India Company as director of
its colony at Curasao, off the South American coast. Kieft was
shipwrecked and drowned off the Welsh coast on his return trip to
Holland. Stuyvesant appointed a council of nine to make sugges¬
tions, which he would then approve, and though his government
was autocratic he gained favor with the Indians and restored
harmony.

Soon an arrangement went into effect whereby a “bouwerie,” or
farm, was granted each farmer who came from Europe. The
settler was furnished a house, barn, implements, four horses, four
cows, sheep and pigs, all to be paid back in six years. For this
privilege he was to pay a yearly rental of one hundred guilders and
eighty pounds of butter. This plan was administered by the West
India Company, and the farmers who came are said to have pros¬
pered. The “bouweries” remained the property of the corpora¬
tion, however, and the farmer was faced with readjusting his life
when his lease expired. Other arrangements provided that an indi¬
vidual might buy land from the Indian owners if he would start
cultivating it within a year of purchase and bring to the plantation
within four years at least one hundred people, fifteen years old or
more. The founder of such a colony was a patroon, or chief, and could
administer justice, appoint officers and magistrates, arrange for
the service of clergymen and schoolmasters and hold a place of
great dignity in the community, all with the knowledge and consent
of the Assembly of Fifteen. Vriesendale was such a colony. The
second effort to found a colony within Rockland’s present bounds
was begun in 1651 by Cornelis Van Werckhoven, from Utrecht.
He claimed two colonies, one beginning at Navesink and stretching
northward, and the other, the Rockland County one, beginning at
Tappan and stretching northward through the Highlands; but the

622

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

company’s directors at Amsterdam refused his claim, and he went
instead to Long Island.

While the Dutch settlement along the Hudson was not faring
any too well, the English development in New England was pro¬
ceeding much more satisfactorily. Rockland County shared in the
general backwardness of the New Netherland Province. As Indian
troubles subsided and some governmental reforms were inaugu¬
rated, better conditions prevailed in the final decade of the Dutch
feudalistic era. But the English, who had made their way to Long
Island and western Connecticut, settled the matter in 1664, when
the Duke of York sent a buccaneering expedition from England
to enforce the country’s surrender. The expedition was com¬
manded by Colonels Nicolls, Carr and Cartwright, and sailed from
Portsmouth for Gardiner’s Bay on May 15, 1664. The Dutch
government took no measures to protect the Colony, despite the
fact that it had timely warning. The squadron took ten weeks
crossing the ocean, but did not appear at the mouth of the Hudson
until August. The terms of capitulation were ratified on August
29, and these confirmed the inhabitants in the possession of their
property and their religious and civic freedom. New Amsterdam
became New York, and Fort Amsterdam was renamed Fort James.
New York had one thousand five hundred inhabitants. For a long
time the Dutch were still leaders in the Colony, Dutch customs pre¬
vailed, and Dutch was the prevailing language, despite the change
to English rule. At the old church in Tappan services were con¬
ducted in Dutch until 1830.

Some time before July 31, 1666, a Dutch merchant in New
York, Balthazer De Harte, purchased from the Haverstraw
Indians practically the entire river front, from the Highlands on
the north to the hills called Verdrietig Hook on the south. The Eng¬
lish law required no holder to cultivate or use his land produc¬
tively, and guaranteed him no exemptions or favors, such as were
possible under the previous Dutch rule. So, since great acreages
could be had for next to nothing from the Indians, abuses arose.
De Harte’s settlement became the beginning of an era of “land
grabbing.” It had been loosely assumed that much of the land in
this area was a part of New Jersey Province, and it was from
Governor Carteret, of New Jersey, that he obtained authority to

ROCKLAND COUNTY

623

extend his land holdings. When the New York-New Jersey border
was later fixed, it was assumed to extend northward in the vicinity
of Stony Point. De Harte bequeathed to his brother Jacobus “all
the land of Haverstroo purchased of the Indians by the testator,”
and the “patent granted by Gov. Philip Carteret.” Jacobus De
Harte obtained a document, December 19, 1685, after the State
boundaries were finally fixed, and so the land bought by Balthazer
De Harte became the basis for most subsequent grants in the dis¬
trict, the whole being called the “Christian Patented Lands of
Haverstraw.”

On April 16, 1671, six days after the granting of the first De
Harte patent, Claes Jansen, who had lived in New Jersey, received
a patent for a tract along the river, “at the north end of Tappan,
at a brook, thence northeasterly along the river forty chains,” 240
acres in all. In 1684 and 1685 an association headed by Governor
Dongan made large purchases in Orange and Ulster counties, part
of these lands being in what is now Rockland. George Lockhart
was allotted two thousand acres under a patent dated February
20, 1685. This tract fronted partly on the river, and was on the
south side of “Tappan’s Sloat.” Dowe Harmansen was another
early landholder. Then a group of De V ries’ descendants or rela¬
tives were granted a township patent under the name of the Town
of Orange, March 20, 1686. Proprietors mentioned included Cor¬
nells Claessen Kuyper, Daniel de Klercke, Peter Harnich, Gerritt
Steuments, John de Vries, Sr., John de Vries, Jr., Claes Mannde,
John Stratemaker, Staaes De Groat, Arean Lammeates, Lamont
Ariannus, Huybert Gerryts, Johannes Gerrits, Eide Van Vorst
and Cornelius Lammerts. The township began at the mouth of
Tappan Creek, where it falls into the meadow, and ran “thence
along the north side of said creek to a creeple bush, and falls into
Hackinsack River, northerly to a place called the green bush, and
thence along said green bush easterly to the lands of Claes Janse
and Dowe Harmansen, and from thence southerly along said land
.upon the top of the hills to the aforementioned mouth of Tappan
creek where it falls into the meadow aforesaid.” The lands cov¬
ered in these different patents were divided and redistributed as the
years went on, some of the divisions falling into what is now
Orange County or into neighboring New Jersey, while others went

624

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

into what is now Rockland. By the beginning of the eighteenth
century nearly all the land in present-day Rockland’s confines was
apportioned.

The role played by the Hudson River in Rockland’s early his¬
tory was tremendous. The county itself extends, however, back
from the river, as indicated above, its three sides forming, roughly
speaking, a triangle, about twenty miles to a side. The county’s
northern tip, at Iona Island, is on a line with the northern line
of Westchester County, across the river. Thence a straight line
southwestward to the New Jersey border divides it from Orange
County. New Jersey is its third next door neighbor, the dividing
line here extending straight from Orange County’s southern tip to
the Hudson River. The largest town of the county, ITaverstraw,
lies along the river, near the middle of the eastern boundary line.
South of it lies Congers, just north of beautiful Rockland Lake,
which is a placid and inviting body of water lying a short distance
inland from the top of the Palisade clifif and completely hidden
from the river. Farther south, along the river front and across
the river from Tarrytown, lies Nyack. Nyack and Tarrytown
are connected by ferry. Piermont and Sparkill are still farther to
the south. Tappan is close to the New Jersey border, and follow¬
ing the line of the New Jersey-Rockland boundary are Pearl River,
Nanuet, Spring Valley, Tallman, Sufifern, Hillburn and Ramapo,
all very near to New Jersey. Turning back northeastward and
proceeding along the Orange-Rockland county line, one sees Sloats-
burg. Tuxedo and other communities on the map. Stony Point is
near the northern tip of the county, although at the very tip, as
indicated above, lies Iona Island. The county seat is New City,
in eastern central Rockland, not far west of Rockland Lake.

Some geologists have concluded that a vast inland sea once
occupied the Hudson and St. Lawrence valleys. These conclusions
are reached as a result of the materials found in this area, many
of which might well be the drift from such waters. A lake is
thought to have lain north of the Highlands. Most of the rocks
lying in place in the Hudson Valley show, when uncovered from
the drift that often spreads over them, surfaces that have been
ground off as if by the attrition of heavy moving masses of rocks,
and are scratched and grooved. Drift deposits of coarse rock are

ROCKLAND COUNTY

625

found throughout the county — boulders, blocks, pebbles, gravel
and sand, sometimes loose, but often held together by binding
materials in the soil. These boulders and blocks are found scat¬
tered over the valleys, plains and hills of moderate elevation and
even on the peaks of the high mountains. From them the county
takes its name. .

Examples of scratched surfaces of the type mentioned above
are to be found on the mountain-top between Grassy Point and
Smith’s Clove and on ridges farther west. Stones weighing many
tons are not uncommon in the high valleys of the Highlands. From
Tappan Creek southward the traprock structure of the Palisades
forms a more gentle swell rather than a sheer cliff, sometimes
extending back a mile or two from the river, with red sandstone
exposed in old quarries and small ravines to a point about two miles
north of Nyack, where the trap ranges to the northeast, to Ver-
drietige Hook. The range increases in height from Bergen Point
to the New Jersey line, where the altitude is 539 feet. From that
point the hills are less high across Orangetown and southern
Clarkstown to a point two miles north of Nyack. Then the chain
sweeps to the northeast, at the north end of Tappan Bay, forming
the Hook, 668 feet high. High Tor, at Haverstraw, is 850 feet
high and is the loftiest point of the chain. The elevations become
less to the west and southwest from High Tor until at length the
whole formation is merged in or falls below the red sandstone level
along the base of the Highland range. The traprock of the Pali¬
sades gives considerable evidence, through the manner of protru¬
sion through strata of other rocks, of having been in a highly
heated condition when so protruded. Indications are, from this
fact, that the Palisades and the traprock in this area were created
when ancient lavas flowed through the rocky fissures in dykes
while this part of the continent was still beneath the ocean.

The red sandstone district of Rockland County is fine agricul¬
tural area. This district, beginning at Stony Point on the north,
extends southward through parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Maryland and Virginia and into North Carolina. The land in this
area is rolling, with rich sandy loam, resulting from disintegration
of subjacent sandstone and its associated shales, marls and lime-

S.E.N.Y. — 40

626

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

stones. The inclination of the strata is slight for the most part,
until near the granite rocks of the Grassy Point area they dip
southwardly at a fifteen- to forty-five-degree angle. This rock
extends from Grassy Point along the base of the Highlands to
New Jersey and eastward to the Hudson, varying in color from
chocolate-brown through brick-red and gray to white. For many
years the gray and conglomerate sandstones were quarried here.
Rockland County’s limestone skirts the shore for a mile or more,
beginning north of Stony Point and extending two miles westward
to Grassy Point, then disappearing beneath the red sandstone for¬
mation. The western and northwestern parts of the county belong
to the primary region, the rocks here being gneiss and hornblendic
gneiss, granite, sienite, limestone, hornblende, serpentine, augite
and trappean rocks.

Iron ore deposits are numerous in the Highland range of moun¬
tains. Titaniferous ore is found on the east side of Bear Hill.
Silver, gold, zinc, copper and other metals have been found in
Rockland; but only iron has offered any commercial possibilities,
and it not very richly.

In addition to the Hudson, a few other streams water the
county. The forbidding cliff of the Palisades is broken, for
instance, at Piermont (formerly Tappan Landing), where the
Sparkill flows out. Through such a gorge the traveler on
the Hudson gains a slight glimpse of what lies beyond, within the
county. The only other important stream which empties into
the Hudson is the Minisceongo, which joins the Hudson at Grassy
Point. The interior of Rockland has many creeks and rivers which
find their way to the sea by other routes. Outstanding among
these is the Hackensack River, one of whose sources is Rockland
Lake. There are also the Passaic, the Pearl, the Ramapo, the
Mahwah and the Saddle. In addition to Rockland Lake, the county
has other still bodies of water, among them Portage Lake and
Shepherd’s Pond, in the western corner of the county ; Lake Antrim,
near Suff ern ; Highland Lake, in the northern part ; and Lake St.
Rita, at Congers.

CHAPTER II

Establishment of Government

CHAPTER II

Establishment of Government

The transition from the American Indian forms of social inter¬
course to the governmental establishments of a Europeanized
America represented a particularly difficult stage of development.
Liberty was the corner stone of tribal social custom. The least
possible compulsion was involved. The Indians dreaded slavery
more than death, and never made slaves of inferior races. Chil¬
dren were brought up to cherish freedom and so were seldom pun¬
ished with blows. The penal code was limited. Atonements were
mostly voluntary. The respect that they accorded their sachems
was voluntary. Respect was earned by merit and not based on
fear. There were codes of behavior covering personal vengeance.
Crimes against individuals were avenged by aggrieved parties.
Murder was avenged by the next of kin. When the Indians made
treaties or complaints, they had a custom of wearing belts and
strings of black and white wampum and sometimes carrying sticks
of wood, each of which corresponded to one count in the indict¬
ment or argument. When a point was made by the speaker, he
would lay down a stick or a string of wampum. Belts handed over
when treaties were made were highly valued by the tribesmen.

The natural assumption among the Indians was that their
social customs would gain the understanding of the European
newcomers. But such was not the case. The Europeans some¬
times tolerated, sometimes misunderstood, their American prede¬
cessors, but almost always they held the customs of the natives in
contempt. They had mainly contempt, too, for Indian religion,
which, lacking all manner of stern precept and dogma, seemed to
them scarcely a religion at all. The Indian’s social conduct was
based on laws of nature rather than on moral precept or preach-

630

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

ment, and, though the European tendency is to think of the laws
of nature as in many instances the essence of cruelty, the Indian’s
nature-based behavior often worked out with less social dishar¬
mony than did the white man’s systems of religion-based laws.
The Indian's real religious worship was for a Supreme Being of
the universe, a deep hunger for knowledge of this Supreme Being
and a hope for a happy life beyond the grave.

As events covered in the foregoing chapter have revealed, much
of the contention that arose between the European settlers and the

Old Stone Church, Upper Nyack, as it Appeared in 1898

Indians came about as a result of similar misunderstandings con¬
cerning the administration of justice. The leaving of justice to a
system of private vengeance was of the nature of barbarianism in
the European’s view. The European court of justice was, on the
other hand, wholly unheard-of to the Indian. And it was just this
system of punishment of offenses that led to much of the friction,
even tragedy, that beset these early relationships between the
ancient American tribes and the new settlers. In such matters it
was not in the character of the European to make concessions, and
it was only gradually and under pressure of external force that

ROCKLAND COUNTY 631

the Indians began to accept the judicial system imposed upon them
by the white people.

As was usually the case in Colonial America, the first units of
government were judicial in their nature. Some means of adjust¬
ing disputes were needed. Orange County was organized in 1683
under the so-called Dongan Act, when Thomas Dongan was Gov¬
ernor. On October 17, that year, the Assembly met at Fort James,
and in a three-week session fourteen Acts were adopted, chief
among these being the “Charter of Liberties,” which declared that
under the King and lord proprietor “the supreme legislative author¬
ity shall forever be and reside in a governor, council and the people
met in general assembly.” This is said to have been the first time
“the people” were recognized in any Constitution in America. The
principles of freedom of religious worship, liberty of choice in
elections and no taxation without representation were also included.
Twelve counties were then erected: New York, Westchester,
Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Albany, Richmond, Kings, Queens,
Suffolk (all in the present State) and Dukes and Cornwall, now
outside New York State.

Orange County was placed under New York County’s care, as
was Dutchess under that of Albany. Four kinds of courts were
recognized: town courts to try small cases, county courts, a gen¬
eral court of oyer and terminer, and a court of chancery to serve
as supreme court of the Province (composed of the Governor and
Council, with power vested in the Governor to appoint a chancellor
to act in his stead as presiding officer of the court). Courts of ses-
sions^were authorized in each county twice yearly. Orange County’s
records were kept in New York until April 5, 1703, when a sepa¬
rate Orange County register was begun. The Rockland area was
particularly affected when the Quaspeeck District, as the Indians
called Hook Mountain, Rockland Lake and vicinity, was taken up
into Orange County when Jarvis Marshall & Company obtained
a grant in 1694. Further land patents followed. A deed and pat¬
ent covering the country west of Orange and the Haverstraw
patents were made over to Daniel Honan and Michael Hawdon in
1696 — the so-called Kakiat Patent. In 1708 the Wawayanda
Patent for one hundred sixty thousand acres of the interior of
Orange County was issued covering lands from the Ulster County

632

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

line to New Jersey. The Cheesecook lands comprised another pat¬
ent. The original two thousand-acre limit on the size of these land
patents was evaded ever more and more by the formation of large
associations. Complaint was finally made to the government at
London, England, and in 1699 the Assembly took up the matter,
annulling the Evans Patent altogether and curtailing others.

It is probable, too, that the Indians misunderstood many of the
land transactions in their European sense. The Indians, being
much more free in all their social conceptions and always less
bound by regulation and law, very likely believed in many cases,
until experience taught them better, that they were simply lending
land to the white people in return for the sums paid them. Many
tradesmen’s disputes arose, furthermore, as the differences in codes
became ever clearer. Commercialism in all its cruelty came with
the Dutch and English to American tribes who were accustomed
to base their dealings more on reason and on human requirements
than on a triumph of wits and shrewd calculations. But if the
Europeans are ever to find their way to such a social life of reason
and consideration of man for man, it will unquestionably be only
by the path of disastrous experience and failure of mere shrewd¬
ness and the honor of commercialism and finance. Whatever har¬
mony of social relationships the Indians were able to build up was
theirs by instinct. And without any question this instinctive social
sense was to give way to a harder and more cruel plan arising out
of a sense of commercialism. The European plan required an all-
embracing judicial and law-enforcement system.

Orange County’s first sheriff was Minie Johannes, appointed
in October, 1685. Floris Williamse Crom succeeded him February
9, 1690, Stanley Handcock in 1694, John Petersen in 1699, and
Theunis Toleman in 1700. The first session of the Court of Com¬
mon Pleas in Orange County opened at Orangetown on April 28,
1703, with William and John Merritt as judges. On the fifth day
of the same month the Court of Sessions of Justices of the Peace
convened. An examination of the common jail was ordered “and
directions given to complete the same.” The first courthouse at
Goshen seems to have been built between 1737 and 1740, court
terms having been previously held in the acqdemy building at New¬
burgh and still earlier in Orangetown, where, in 1704, a courthouse

ROCKLAND COUNTY 633

was built to replace the original one built “before 1703.” The
second courthouse at Orangetown was burned.

When Rockland County was carved out of Orange by an Act
of February 23, 1798, the first term of the Court of Common Pleas
of the new county was held at New City on the first Tuesday in
May of that year. The judicial officers were : John Suffern, who
had the title of first judge; James Perry and Benjamin Coe, judges ;
and Abraham Onderdonk, assistant justice. Early attorneys on
county records were Samuel Smith, Peter Ogilvie, John Opie,
Thomas Smith, Robert Campbell, James Scott Smith, Jonathan
Pearsil, Jr., Charles Thompson, William A. De Peyster and Rob¬
ert Morris Ogden. Judge Suffern presided over the Court of Com¬
mon Pleas until 1806, when James Perry was named first judge,
with Peter D. W. Smith, Richard Blauvelt, Andrew Suffern, John
T. Gurnee and Jeremiah W. Pierson as associates. Edward Suf¬
fern, John Suffern’s son, was first judge for twenty-seven years,
from 1820 to 1847, after having previously been district attorney.

The Constitution of 1846 abolished the Court of Common
Pleas in most counties, and also merged the office of surrogate with
that of county judge in the new County Court that was then estab¬
lished. The first surrogate was Peter Tallman, named in 1798.
The last surrogate before the merger of offices was Horatio G.
Prall, one of the most eminent figures in the entire history of the
Rockland County bar. William F. Frazer, the first county judge
and surrogate, had been district attorney for fourteen years and
was a gifted lawyer. His successor, Edward Pye, severed all offi¬
cial ties, including that of county judge, when the Civil War began
in 1861, and became colonel of the 95th Regiment of New York
Volunteers. He died of wounds June 12, 1864. Another member
of the Sufifern family, Andrew E. Suffern, succeeded him as county
judge in 1867. George W. Weiant, who began practicing law in
Haverstraw in 1870, succeeded Judge Suffern and was highly
regarded for his conduct of the office. He died in 1895.

Arthur S. Tompkins followed Judge Weiant. He was destined
to reach the Supreme Court. Born at Middleburg, Schoharie
County, August 26, 1865, he was admitted to practice in 1886, and
practiced law in Nyack. After serving as police justice and county
judge, he was in the State Assembly for a term, then was elected to

634

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

the Fifty-sixth Congress. He was returned to the Fifty-seventh
Congress, serving from 1899 to 1903. Afterward he practiced law
in Rockland County, though his practice extended beyond its
borders. When, in 1906, the Second Judicial District was divided
and the Ninth Judicial District was formed, including the counties
of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester, Judge
Tompkins was elevated to the Supreme Court bench in the new
district, serving fourteen years and being reelected for another
fourteen-year term in 1920. Judge Tompkins was succeeded on
the County Court bench by Alonzo Wheeler, after whom came
Judge Fallon, who died in 1908. Then came William McCauley,
then Mortimer B. Patterson, elected in 1918. John A. McKenna,
of Piermont, was elected in 1934.

Similarly a long line of district attorneys and sheriffs served
with distinction. The first sheriff was Jacob Wood, named March
21, 1798. The first county clerk was David Pye, appointed the
same day. The first district attorney was Coenrad E. Elmen-
dorph, named in 1801, who served four counties — Delaware,
Dutchess, Ulster and Rockland.

Governmental units began to be formed as Colonial patterns of
settlement took shape. Soon after the town of Orange, or Orange-
town, in southern Rockland, was organized, in 1686, inhabitants
of the adjoining patents, including Haverstraw, were attached to
it, establishing a connection that remained unbroken until 1719.
In that year Haverstraw was made a separate precinct, with bound¬
aries described as “from the northermost bounds of Tappan to
the northermost bounds of Haverstraw.’’ The town of Orange
was the only organized township in Orange County until 1714,
when Goshen was founded as a township. Adjoining patents were
then attached to it, the whole becoming the precinct of Goshen.
Tappan was the county seat, and county and general courts assem¬
bled only there until 1727. When members of the Assembly were
elected, electors were sent from all parts of the county to Tappan,
there to open the ballots. The sheriff presided over the ballot
boxes, and declared the results. Any freeholder could vote in any
and every county where he had property, “lands or tenements
improved to the value of forty pounds,” free from incumbrances.
After 1727 courts were held alternately at Goshen and Tappan to

ROCKLAND COUNTY

635

suit convenience, but elections of Assemblymen took place at Tap-
pan exclusively until, in 1749, they were authorized also at Goshen.
The precinct of Goshen included all territory of the county not
attached to Orangetown and Haverstraw ; in other words, the land
north and west of the mountains, from the Hudson River to the
Delaware.

The precincts of Goshen and Orangetown did not coincide with
the towns themselves, however. The Cornwall, Warwick and
Greycourt neighborhoods, for example, while in Goshen precinct,
still were not a part of Goshen town. The jurisdiction of the pre¬
cincts of Orangetown and Haverstraw corresponded very closely
to the lands embraced in the present Rockland County. Through¬
out this whole community the custom of slavery developed, although
slaves were well treated for the most part and did not feel their
bondage as a great hardship, it is said.

In the Colonial Assembly the county was represented by one
member until 1726, then by two. Early Assemblymen included
Peter Haring, Floris Crom, Cornelius Haring, Hendrich Ten
Eyck, Cornelius Cooper, Lancaster Symes, Vincent Matthews,
Abram Haring, Theodorus Snedeker, Gabriel Ludlow, Thomas
Gale, Henry Wisner, Selah Strong, John De Noyelles, John Coe.
Others of the leading families furnished many district attorneys,
county judges and county clerks, as well as sheriffs and supervisors
of Orangetown. The Haring family was early prominent, and the
reader who is familar with the Rockland County area will note, of
course, the prominence of many family names which since then
have become place names in the county of Rockland — Haring,
Blauvelt, Suffern and many others.

■

V‘-j . '■!'

•

■

•• • '

•

CHAPTER III

Colonial Days

- - -- — - x J -

CHAPTER III

Colonial Days

Gradually the European settlers in America became established
in their way of life. Pioneers in Orangetown and Haverstraw
made ever further encroachments upon the life of the natives until
the Indians mainly withdrew from the river into more interior
regions. The newcomers experienced less and less trouble as time
went on. The first among their number became for the most part
very strong physically, since there was much labor to be done. The
men had often to carve places for themselves in the wilderness,
and usually to farm and build their homes. They learned and
practiced the arts of woodcraft and home industries. The women
became skillful in handling household duties under all the difficult
circumstances of pioneer life. '

The prevailing customs were for a long time Dutch in their
origins. The young men and women — individuals who had come
to this continent as babies or who had been born just after their
arrival on these shores — grew up amid such surroundings. Their
schooling was limited but sturdy. Formal schools did not develop
so soon nor grow so quickly as was the case in Virginia and New
England, probably because the region was so sparsely settled. The
first school was organized in Tappan in 1694, with Hermanus Van
Huysen as teacher. The first schoolhouse on record was called the
Old Tappan Schoolhouse, part of it now comprising the residence
of James E. Martin. It was built in 1711. It is without question
the oldest school in the State, probably in the country, which is still
standing. It was evidently used for other purposes than those of
education, references having been made to religious and other uses
to which it was put. Records indicate that it was sold to the school
district for its exclusive use in 1768. It was retained for school
purposes until 1855.

640

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

The first Tappan school remained for a half-century the only
one in the county. The next was a school attached to the Brick
Church. Then one was established on the site of what is now Haver-
straw. The slowness with which schoolhouses appeared does not
mean, however, that education was as sparse. The relations of
the minister with the people were usually very friendly, and he was
almost always deeply attached to the children of his parishioners.
Frequently he served informally in the capacity of educator, which
seemed a part of his function as spiritual guide. He was often the
only “educated” man in a community, speaking in the “book¬
learning” sense of that term. As far as life itself was concerned,
children probably acquired a much more realistic knowledge of life
than is customary in the more complex patterns of social relation¬
ships today. Every member of the family had to share in the
work of clearing the land, providing food and making clothing, and
scarcely a child grew to manhood or womanhood without a full
knowledge of how to live, take care of himself and defend himself
against harm in any and all circumstances. In this “life” sense the
children of the pioneers were perhaps better educated than many
a university graduate of more recent times.

The conflicts in which the early settlers became involved, prob¬
ably mainly through their own lack of wisdom and understanding,
had left the Rockland area devastated, had reduced it from a land
of plenty to a land of desolation. Rebuilding under such conditions
was more difficult than it would otherwise have been. Yet little by
little the region where the Indians’ bark houses had formerly stood
became the center of an ever-growing number of European-style
residences. After a time the district became prosperous and social
health was restored. By 1798, the year when Rockland became
a county in its own right, an appropriation of $599 was made for
school purposes by the county board of supervisors.

The church was, of course, one of the earliest centers of com¬
munal life. The old Tappan Reformed Dutch Church was founded
October 24, 1694, when Tappan boasted but twenty families. The
community itself was only eight years old at the time, and the first
services were undoubtedly held in a log cabin before a church
building was built. The importance attached by the early settlers
to religious life was evident in the fact that they started their

ROCKLAND COUNTY

church even before their first school. The first minister of Old
Tappan Church, the Rev. William Berthold, came at least four
times yearly from his stations in Hackensack and Passaic to hold
services in Tappan over a period of thirty years. Some of the
Rockland County people occasionally made their way to Hackensack
of a Sunday to hear him preach during- the times when he was
unable to make his way to them. The first regular pastor, the Rev.
Frederick Mutzelius, came in 1727, and served for twenty-two

Demarest Mill, West Nyack

years thereafter at an annual salary of seventy pounds sterling
($35°), receiving free house and firewood and his burial in the
churchyard. The free house referred to was the manse, built in
1726, a beautiful example of Dutch architecture, which still stands
west of Village Green, and is thought by many to be the oldest
parsonage in America. The next pastor, the Rev. Samuel Ver-

S.E.N.Y. — 41

642

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

bryck, came in 1750, and, living in the manse, served here through
the Revolutionary War. He was especially interested in education,
and established what was known as Queens College, which later
became Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He
was a close friend of Washington. Church services were mostly
in Dutch. It was within the walls of this church that Major
Andre’s trial took place, there being no other suitable building for
such a purpose.

The church edifice itself in Tappan was reared in 1716. After¬
ward there came other churches at Clarkstown and Kakiat. The
Kakiat Church held services in the English language. The Clarks¬
town and Tappan churches were served by the same minister until
1830, and the services were in Dutch until then. At ten o’clock in
the morning the clerk, who also served as chorister, began the first
service, reading the lesson and psalms. The sermon lasted until
noon. Many members of the congregations, who had traveled
over very bad roads for long distances to attend services, brought
with them lunches which they ate in the church or under the trees
while waiting for the second service to begin. After an intermis¬
sion of an hour, the second service started, continuing for an hour
and a half. Zeal blazed high in those days, as was evidenced in the
fact that even in cold weather the congregation spent all these
hours sitting in an unheated church. Older women sometimes car¬
ried foot-stoves, some of which are preserved in older families, and
which they occasionally passed to others who had not so provided
themselves. Afterward “box” stoves were introduced in churches,
and occasionally parishioners would rise during services and walk
over to the stoves to warm themselves. In summer time Tappan
and Clarkstown residents would sometimes embark for Slaeperigh
Hoi (Sleepy Hollow), across the river, making the journey by
sloop. If the wind was right, they would be swept briskly to the
eastern shore of Tappan Zee. Otherwise they might lie becalmed
in the sloop for hours and be finally wafted back to the west shore.

Other old churches included the Kakiat Quaker Meetinghouse,
built in 1815 and still standing; the Reformed Protestant Dutch
Church of Kakeath, organized in 1774, in the yard of which rest
the remains of many Revolutionary heroes ; Wesley Chapel, dating
back to 1805; and the Presbyterian “Old English” Meetinghouse,

ROCKLAND COUNTY

^43

organized around 1730-34, the first Rockland church to hold serv¬
ices in English (its original building, about twenty-five feet north
of the present church, is gone, but the original manse still stands).

The Tappan Church, which was characteristic of the time, was
of a very different architecture from that of most present-day
churches. Opposite the entrance was the pulpit, shaped like a wine¬
glass, fastened against the wall by its stem and reached on either
side by a circular staircase. Above the pulpit was a sounding-
board decorated by a sheaf of golden grain. The clerk’s desk stood
in front of the pulpit and below. A gallery extended along each
side of the church, this being reached by stairs built in the body of
the church. The young men of the congregation occupied the gal¬
lery on the right, while Negro slaves used the left gallery. Often
nowadays one hears complaints that the church takes on a lifeless
character because the building is unused except on Sundays. Such
was not the case in those times, when the church building was a real
center of social life and activity. The church door — a custom that
seems very strange to us now — -was covered with advertisements,
where there were nailed to the wood of the door descriptions of
strayed or impounded cattle, lost property and the like, or announce¬
ments of coming auctions. Prayer meetings were held frequently,
mostly at members’ homes, with the minister present if possible.
Every two or three weeks a lecture would be given at the home of
a deacon or an elder, usually on a Bible topic. These were Satur¬
day evening events, and were usually well attended. The life of the
ministers was one of exciting and self-sacrificing hardship. They
developed extraordinarily vigorous constitutions, which enabled
them to make long journeys and visits to parishioners and others
under stress of the great opposition. The minister was always
highly respected, not only for his spiritual attainments and his serv¬
ices to others, but above all for his rich knowledge and education in
a surrounding where education was at a premium. He taught chil¬
dren, interpreted important events of the day, expounded spiritual
trends, and was even consulted much on business ventures and
problems. His rewards were often in the nature of self-satisfac¬
tion and a vigorous welcome of food wherever he went among his
flock.

644

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

The churchgoers were very differently attired then than are
those who attend Sunday services today. The men wore perhaps
knee-breeches and buckled shoes, and the women appeared in six
or eight skirts. On cold days the tavern was a good place to get
warm between services. People “dressed up’’ mainly for church
attendance, marriages, betrothals, christenings and the like, and
perhaps for an occasional party. At other times the life and labors
of the pioneers went forward amid less flamboyant surroundings.
The daily life of the 'colonist’s home was a full expression of his
character and being.

In summer the average rising-time in the morning was around
four o’clock, although in winter they slept for an hour and a half
longer. The men and boys cleaned and watered the stock before
breakfast, while the women milked the cows and the children had
driven them to pasture. After breakfast the men went forth to the
fields to till the soil, and the women went about their regular house¬
work. The women did a great deal of weaving and spinning, for
it was not possible in that day simply to place an order with
the nearest department store. The very cloth of which the
pioneers made their garments by hand had to be woven from the
raw fiber. Farm life consisted of the yearly cycle of plowing,
planting, shearing the sheep, gathering the hay and grain, spinning
the wool. Later in autumn the fruits and cereals were harvested
and the flax broken, and everything was made ready for winter,
the time when the women made their cloth and the men threshed the
grain and cut the wood for the following year's supply. The plow
in those days was made of wood, and was only partially sheathed
with iron. Such a plow is to be seen in the historical room of the
Rockland County Society at the New City Courthouse. In days of
industrial scarcity it is enlightening with regard to the human
spirit to look back upon the thrift of those pioneers, who, without
the implements, facilities or advantages that are ours, were able
not only to feed and clothe themselves very successfully but soon
to create a surplus of the needed commodities.

From this surplus of cloth and clothing a healthy economic life
grew up. They exchanged these surpluses with millers or store¬
keepers for money or commodities. Grist and sawmills arose until,
in 1829, Rockland County had thirty-one gristmills and twenty-

ROCKLAND COUNTY

645

seven cider mills in addition to all its sawmills. A few millstones
remain as evidence of these ancient properties, and at what was
once called Pye’s Corners, in West Nyack, an old millwheel is to
be found along the stream. More than 137 gristmills once operated
in this county. Dams often furnish evidence of the sites of these.
Practically every stream entering the Hudson from Sparkill to
Fort Montgomery turned millstones, and the waters of the Hacken¬
sack, Pascack, Naurashaun and Ramapo were used for such pur¬
poses, as were occasionally very small brooks for intermittent
grinding. The nether millstone was usually four feet in diameter
and about .six inches thick, and was placed horizontally, with a
vertical shaft extending up through the center opening. The
heavier upper millstone carried a center yoke of iron and was care¬
fully balanced on the vertical shaft with a slight clearance between
the stones. The grinding face of each stone was cut with slightly
depressed lines through which the flour gradually worked its way
outward as the grinding was done. After the stones became worn,
these lines had to be recut. Many of these stones are now the prop¬
erty of antiquarians, being used as seats, tables, garden-stones,
supports for sun-dials and even for the building of walls.

Most stores of pioneer days were at convenient landing places
along the river front. The storekeeper here received farm prod¬
ucts — vegetables, fruit, meat, butter, eggs, textile goods, clothing
— in return for tea, coffee, tobacco, sugar, crockery and silverware.
Homemade cloth was of great value in those days, and Dutch
housewives were proud of their large supplies of cloth, carefully
packed in clothes-presses. For grain the farmer received gold —
“Spanish Joes" ($16) or English guineas. Often the settlers
hoarded and hid this precious metal, as the British and Hessian
soldiers learned when they performed many destructive acts dur¬
ing the Revolutionary War just to find possible hidden gold. Some
farm products had to go, too, to the blacksmith to pay for services
rendered by him — not only the shoeing of horses, but the making
of irons for wagons, and farm implements like forks and rakes.
When the miller collected sufficient flour, he shipped it to New
York by sloop or once in a while by wagon or horseback. Some¬
times the traveler walked to New York and back.

So a healthy economic life arose, as can only be the case where
the basic realities of life are concerned. In such surroundings

646 SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

cooperative effort develops as a matter of course, goods and serv¬
ices are freely exchanged and sound arrangements are made gov¬
erning the circulation of these and of money. The remainder of
the activities of the pioneers likewise tended to assume healthy
forms. Family life was particularly important. The family was
an economic unit, and also a social and spiritual unit. Evenings of
conversation and family meditations and prayers about the table
or the fireplace were of meaningful quality, reflecting the life and
experiences of the day. Populations were more limited and less
transient than is the case today, and the inhabitants of a district
mostly knew one another with a fair degree of intimacy.

The homes of the settlers boasted many customs that to us seem
strange. In most homes there were frequent family prayers, read¬
ings of scripture and catechism, and the asking of divine grace on
bended knee. When a child was born in a Dutch home, the event
was announced to the neighbors by the hanging on the knocker of
the front door of an elaborately trimmed pin-cushion — a blue one
to signify a boy, a white one for a girl. These cushions were care¬
fully preserved and handed down from generation to generation.
Sometimes they became very valuable heirlooms, especially when
many names and dates were embroidered upon them as family rec¬
ords. Each birth was recorded also in the family Bible. In due
time a caudle party was arranged — a feast at which great quanti¬
ties of cookies, “achlerlingen,” “krullers” and “olykoecks” were
made and devoured, but at which the chief delectable was the
“caudle,” the recipe of which was a secret in every family. One
family recipe calls for three gallons of water, seven pounds of sugar,
oatmeal, spice, raisins, lemons by the quart, and two gallons of the
best Madeira wine. This seductive beverage was served in a large
bowl, around which were hung quaint little spoons by which each
person ladled out enough for his own cup, sometimes bringing a
raisin or piece of citron with the liquid. The bowl and spoons were
kept as souvenirs.

The homes of the settlers were built perhaps on the side of a
hill, where they lived in a rudely devised structure until better plans
could be laid. An excavation might be made in the hillside, then
the interior would be simply lined with bark and faced with
upright posts set in the earth. A log house was then erected for

ROCKLAND COUNTY

647

purposes of greater permanence. It was only gradually that the
simple log houses were replaced by more pretentious dwellings.
Before the advent of the sawmill, frame buildings with shingle
sides and thatched roofs were built. The shingles were made by
hand from seasoned cedar, and were almost as durable as stone.
Such houses were not so costly nor so difficult to build as were
stone houses. Very few of the old shingle houses remain, but
many of the old stone houses are still to be found. These, mostly
of brown stone, were one story high, with an overshot roof, form¬
ing a portico in front, while at the rear a roof, or “lean-to,”
extended to within a few feet of the ground. “Half-doors”
afforded entry to the houses. These usually contained four small
panes of glass, and could be opened for ventilation while the lower
part was left closed. Entrance was into a broad hallway, through
which a horse and carriage could be driven and space still be left
between hubs and walls. There were no ceilings in our sense. Sim¬
ply great oak beams were laid overhead, these becoming a rich
dark color with age; and on these rested the garret floor. The
lower half of the wall was frequently wainscoted, the upper half
plastered. Fireplaces were wide enough to accommodate whole
families with seats near the fire, and the chimneys of these were
built outside the house. More pretentious houses had glazed, blue,
delft-ware tiles around the jambs of the fireplace. These were
imported from Holland, and on them scriptural scenes were
depicted. Substantial andirons, fire shovel and tongs rounded out
the picture of the fireplace, which was a tremendously important
part of every house and even of communal cultural life. In more
elaborate dwellings, the great fireplaces served both the living room
and the kitchen, there being two openings from the huge chimney.

Sometimes the kitchen of these old houses was used as cooking,
eating and living room all in one. Across the top of the fireplace
ran an iron bar from which hung pothooks and trammels, the
crane being so far too great a luxury. There were hooks and
racks for utensils along the walls. The crockery was delft-ware,
which came into use at about the close of the seventeenth century.
Wooden and pewter dishes preceded delft-ware, and pewter
remained the ordinary table service until the beginning of the
eighteenth century. Knives and forks were of steel. Blue and

648

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

white china and procelain, ornamented often with Chinese designs,
were on display very prominently, but were rarely used. Some¬
times these plates were on display, hung by strings or ribbons
passed through a hole drilled in their edges. Silver spoons, snuf¬
fers, candlesticks, punch bowls and tankards were owned by fami¬
lies who had a money surplus. Chairs were high and straight-
backed, sometimes covered with leather and studded with brass
nails. More frequently the seats were of matted rushes. A capa¬
cious Holland chest was for generations a useful carry-all in
almost every well-furnished home. And another familiar item
was the “Kermis,” or trundle-bed, concealed under the large bed
by day and brought out at night for the children. Clocks were very
rare, the great eight-day clock having made its first appearance
in America about 1720. Hour-glasses and sun-dials were in com¬
mon use. In every house the parlor contained a high-posted,
corded bedstead, which, with its hangings, was an index to the
owner’s social standing. The entrance to the cellar was always
outside the house. It was a kind of storehouse for products of the
farm which required an even, cool temperature. The garret was a
storehouse, on the other hand, for fruits of the harvest which had
to be kept dry. Along the collar beams hung strings of dried
apples and ears of sweet corn. There was a bin for rye, also a bin
for corn. Barrels of apples and piled bags of flour were to be seen
here. Spinning-wheel and loom, as well as some utensils, were
sometimes kept here. The atmosphere of the old-fashioned garret,
perhaps its very dryness and the slanting lines of its roof and its
shiny window panes, made it a place of ghostly terror by night for
any child who might be sent there on an errand.

A few of the county’s older houses remain as landmarks. The
Salisbury House, a beautiful old home facing the “Bight” (bay),
Piermont Avenue, South Nyack, was built before the Revolution
by Michael Cornelison, a Jersey City man, who had married a
Nyack girl. He began it in 1770, obtaining the red sandstone for
it from a quarry just south of his property. Quarrying was one
of Nyack’s first industries, local red sandstone having been fur¬
nished for the old capitol at Albany and for the construction of
Rutger’s College. When the Salisbury house was almost finished,
the workmen had to leave to go to war in the Revolution. During

ROCKLAND COUNTY

649

that war the only harm done the house was a bullet hole over the
door on the west side. A British soldier who was angry at his
commanding officer fired at the house when the officer was having,
supper there one evening during the British occupation of the edi¬
fice. Only the door frame was hurt. The Cornelisons had, how¬
ever, a Tory neighbor, who informed the British of all that Michael
Cornelison did. The British, seeing an opportunity for gathering
some booty from the Cornelisons’ well-stocked larder, raided the
place, with the Tory neighbor as their guide. The Cornelisons’
oldest son, Michael, Jr., lay on a beam upstairs, fearful that a
shiny watch hanging on a nail below him would attract the atten¬
tion of the enemy. All that happened was, however, that the Tory
neighbor’s eyes, when once he raised them, focused upon Michael
Cornelison, Jr., lying there. It is said that a brother Mason is a
brother, and the Tory merely lowered his eyes and led the enemy
into the next room. The father of the house did not fare so well.
He was taken to Sugar House, in William Street, New York, and
there imprisoned. The mother followed her husband to New
York, and was inside the British lines for six months before they
released her. In 1780 earthworks were thrown up at the foot of
the hill below the house and were occupied by a detachment of
Continental soldiers called the “Water Guard,” whose boats were
anchored in the bay. The Revolution over, the Cornelisons
returned and completed their house, which then did not have an
upper story. Their driveway, between house and barn, was
declared a public road in 1790 — the River Road, as it is now called.
The name “Salisbury House” derives from more recent residents.
John Salisbury, one of the residents here, bought the first commu¬
tation ticket to New York sold bv the Northern Railroad of New
Jersey. The Salisburys also took over superintendence of nearby
Wayside Chapel, built in 1869 in Dutch architectural style and
situated in River Road, Grandview-on-Hudson.

Another old Rockland County landmark is the so-called 1776
House, Yost Mabie Tavern, built in 1756 by Casperus Mabie,
where the famous British spy, John Andre, was imprisoned. It
is of stone, one of its curious features being an oddly indented
inlay of small red bricks around the door and the windows, inserted
with careful exactitude, a motif that contrasts sharply with the

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

650

style of the rest of the building. It was an early tavern famed in
the whole region south of Newburgh. The rooms in which Andre
, was imprisoned and heard the death sentence read to him, as well
as the original bar and large brass rail in the bar-room, may still
be seen. It was here that the famous “Orangetown Resolutions,”
containing in germ the principles of the later Declaration of Inde¬
pendence, were adopted July 4, 1774.

In Zinke’s Restaurant, oh the old Knickerbocker Road, just
below Tappan, the menu card contains the inscription, “You are
now dining in the old historic homestead of Colonel Thomas Blanch.
It was in this house, in front of the fireplace, still here, in the Grill
Room, that Major John Andre’s bones rested the night after they
were taken up by his descendants to be placed in Westminster
Abbey, England, where they now remain. Colonel Thomas Blanch
was a Revolutionary War hero. He built this house for his son
Richard just after the war, and lived here himself with his son, up
to the time he died, in 1824. His remains now rest in the Tappan,
New York, cemetery. Blanch Avenue takes its name from the
Colonel.”

During the Revolution, Molly Sneden, one of Rockland’s
heroines of that war, lived in a white frame house which stands
near the river, on the Landing Road. She was the ferry mistress
at what was known as Sneden’s Landing, and it is told of her that
she piloted Martha Washington across the Hudson when the wife
of the “Lather of Our Country” was on her way to Cambridge,
Massachusetts, in 1775, to join her husband. She was of Tory
sympathies, and on one occasion helped a British soldier escape by
hiding him in a chest, over which she placed pans of cream to rise.
When his pursuers arrived in search of him and asked Molly for
something to drink, she told them they could have all the milk they
wanted and asked them not to disturb the cream that she had set
out. When they had gone, she released the British soldier late at
night and ferried him across the river.

Molly Sneden’s first home, near Rockland County’s southern
tip, was a good-sized stone house, still standing near the river. It
was known in Revolutionary times as “Sneeding’s old house at the
ferry,” whose western terminus it was. At least parts of this
house are said to have been standing as early as 1719. It was once

ROCKLAND COUNTY

65 1

known as Corbett’s old house. It was from this house that James
Alexander took observations for establishing the point at which
the forty-first degree of latitude crosses the Hudson, marking the
boundary between New York and New Jersey.

How many Rockland County houses were made famous by
visits of George Washington is a matter of some knowledge and,
of course, considerable question. He spent some time, certainly,
at Stony Point, a name which was then used specifically to refer
to the crude fort there. When he dated his dispatches “Haver-
straw,” his exact situation might have varied within considerable
latitude, for the name “Haverstraw” was at that time used to refer
to the whole region from the present Bear Mountain Bridge to the
Long Clove. All the area comprising Doodletown, Tomkins Cove,
Stony Point, West Haverstraw, Haverstraw and Garnerville was
collectively called Haverstraw. The Commander-in-Chief spent
much time, too, at West Point, and on at least one occasion was
taken from King’s Ferry to West Point by boat. In the campaign
of July, 1780, he had headquarters at Kakiat, again at Stony Point,
and at the De Wint Mansion, in Tappan, built in 1700, the oldest
original house in the county. It is preserved by the New York
State Grand Lodge of Masons. It was occupied five times by
Washington, including the time when Major Andre was tried and
executed.

Mrs. De Wint was inclined to the Loyalist Tory side, but was
happy to have as her guest a man of Washington’s distinction and
stature. She figured again as his hostess when, on May 6, 1783,
Washington met with the British commander-in-chief in America,
Sir Guy Carleton, concerning the evacuation of this country by
British troops. Their staffs were present; and Black Sam
“Fraunces,” proprietor of the famous Fraunces’ Tavern, Broad
Street, New York City, who had come to superintend the enter¬
tainment provided by Washington, met the Americans at the Slote
(Piermont). Thence the whole party proceeded to the De Wint
House in Tappan. On the seventh of May the British fired, from
Sir Guy’s ship, His Majesty’s frigate “Perseverance,” off the
Slote, the first salute to the United States flag. Mrs. John De
Wint, Jr., who was at the house of her father-in-law while Wash-

652

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

ington was there, wrote in a letter dated November 18, 1820, to
one whom she addressed as “Dear Maria” :

“I was very happy to receive a letter from you and find
that you were comfortably settled in your winter quarters
before the great snow-storm, which nobody remembers the
like but myself, and which, I believe I shall never forget,
as it was the cause of my enjoying the company of Gen.
Washington for nearly three days at Tappan.”

There are many other famous residences in Rockland.

In Piermont stands the Onderdonk-Haring homestead, in front
of which Washington went aboard a British ship as a dinner guest
of Sir Guy Carleton, in Tappan Zee Bay, after the British had
fired their first salute to Washington. Remaining among the
houses made famous in Revolutionary days, along the river, one
finds Treason Hill House, in West Haverstraw. The State
Reconstruction Home now occupies the site of the noted old stone
house, built in 1770 and torn down by the State in 1929. It was
occupied in Revolutionary times by Joshua Hett Smith, and was
frequently visited by Washington, who had his headquarters in it
in August, 1781. In this same house General Benedict Arnold
concluded his treasonable negotiations with Major John Andre
for the betraying of West Point to the British. Among the famous
names associated with this house are those of Lafayette, Alexander
Hamilton, Rochambeau and Aaron Burr. Just south of Treason
Hill House site, standing on the same ridge, is the plantation home
of Judge Smith, author of the first history of New York, published
in London in 1757.

In Stony Point Township, which saw so much Revolutionary
activity, the foundations only are left of the old Springsteel farm¬
house, just west of Mormontown Road, on Cricket-town Road,
which leads into Queensborough Trail. An inscription on a nearby
rock boulder marks the spot where General “Mad” Anthony
Wayne spent the evening of July 15, before the midnight capture
of Stony Point Fort. Flowing out from under the great boulder,
there still issue the waters of the old spring where Wayne’s troops,
after their long march, stopped to quench their thirst and spend a
few hours. From the Springsteen farm Wayne dispatched letters

ROCKLAND COUNTY

653

to Washington and other Revolutionary leaders. Probably Stony
Point's oldest house is the Waldron-Bontecou House, built in 1751,
which contains many features of early Dutch architecture. Fight¬
ing took place on the Waldron lands around this house during the
Revolution.

Going inland, one finds another fine example of Dutch archi¬
tecture in the Van Houten family homestead, “Naurashaun,” near
Pearl River, on Blauvelt Road. Because of its faithfulness to this
architectural style, it was chosen for the filming of “Headless
Horseman,” in which Will Rogers starred. A house which has
been preserved in primitive simplicity is the Gurnee (now the
Mowbray-Clarke) Home, built in 1769 near the “head of the moun¬
tain,” on the north branch of the Hackensack River, in Ramapo
Township. The Roberts house is an old brownstone structure
built in 1710 of stone quarried on the premises.

“Graycourt,” the home of the late William Gray, in Nyack,
was visited by President Grover Cleveland on July 10, 1889. Mr.
and Mrs. Wharton Clay have more recently resided here, and the
“Graycourt Apartments” now grace the site. Mr. Cleveland was,
however, so well pleased with “Graycourt” that he afterward
referred to it as the oddest and most attractive residence he had
even seen. It is said that he named his summer home, “Gray
Gables,” at Buzzard’s Bay, after it.

As has already been indicated, the tavern constituted an impor¬
tant element in the cultural and social life of early Rockland
County. Here, over cheering victuals and drink, the people of the
different communities met; and here they warmed themselves in
the intermissions between the long Sunday services in Rockland’s
churches. At those hostelries which were conveniently situated
along avenues of travel, such as the old King’s Highway, famous
individualities now and then stopped, sometimes for important mili¬
tary, political or personal conferences and meetings. The “ ’76
House” long served as a tavern, or inn. Another, at the top of
Casper Hill, more recently owned by John Storms, was kept in
Revolutionary times by a Mr. Tenure. Another such inn was that
of John Coe, at New Hempstead, on the road which was cut
through from King’s Ferry to the highway to Sidman’s, or Ramapo
Pass. At the Coe place many historic political meetings occurred,

654

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

and here Major Talmage and his dragoons halted on the way from
West Point to Tappan with their prisoner, Major Andre, in 1780.
General Lafayette sent several letters from here. There are also
taverns, or ferry houses, at Sneden’s Landing, to serve Dobbs
Ferry, and at Stony* Point, to serve King’s Ferry.

The original member of the Suffern family, after whom Suf-
fern was named, was an innkeeper, John Suffern by name, who
came to America from Antrim, Ireland, in 1763, landing in Phila¬
delphia and thereafter settling in Haverstraw. He established
himself in the Ramapo Valley in 1773, and his descendants still
live here. The old stone house, on the site where the Methodist
parsonage now stands, in Suffern, was his inn, long a noted resort
for patriots. Washington once made his headquarters here. The
place was also the scene of dashing exploits by Aaron Burr. At
the tavern the old road divided into two parts, one to go westward
to Ramapo, the other northward to Stony Point. Not far away,
on the northern side of the old Post Road, was Wanamaker’s Tav¬
ern, now a deserted ruin. Benson’s was another important tavern
of its day, and was even used as a public house until comparatively
recent years. The De Noyelles Inn, at the south end of Haver¬
straw, on the bank of the Hudson, was the site of early meetings
of Haverstraw Methodists. Tradition has it that Methodism
gained its first success in this county with Peter De Noyelles’ con¬
version. The old Van Houten Inn, on Front Street, Haverstraw,
facing the river, still stands, much as it was first built in the 1790s,
and the upstairs remains as it was when occupied as a tavern, the
owner having asked the first purchasers never to change it. The
numbers of the rooms are still over each door. Downstairs there is
a huge open fireplace in its original place. It was an early stopping
place for circuit riders in Methodism’s beginnings. An old house
at Marlin’s Corner served about 1804 as a tavern and store, and
at Main and Front streets stood the tavern of John Marting, which
later gave way to the Samuel Johnson Hotel, on the same site. In
1852 the United States Hotel was built on this site, and still later
the post office was erected here. Middletown Tavern was so named
because, in the early days of settlement, it stood midway between
the pioneer settlement on the Kakiat Patent and the establishment
at Tappan. So the name “Middletown” was applied to a part of

ROCKLAND COUNTY

655

Orangetown which is now in Rockland County, about a mile west
of the Orangeville Mills. The “Old Red Tavern/’ Nanuet’s first
inn, was operated by Peter Demarest, Jr., until his death in 1839,
when it passed to his son. It stood on the main road between Suf-
fern and Tappan Slote (Piermont) and just south of the site of the
Nanuet School in 1886. Sloat’s Tavern, in Sloatsburg, was a
scene of meetings of town supervisors from 1774. When Rock¬
land was separated from Orange County, supervisors from both
met here with an Appeals Court judge, using this tavern for the
transaction of their business until 1821. Stagecoaches also fre¬
quently used it as a stopping point. The iron sills of the house are
unique, and in the old door were many bullet holes. Opposite the
Erie Railroad Station in Sterlington is Smith’s Tavern. In the
hall of this old home may be seen copies of letters written June 9
and 11, 1779, by General Washington from “Smith’s Tavern in
the Clove.” Washington himself planted the cottonwood tree
growing in the dooryard. East of the house is a slave burial
ground, bearing dates on the stones around the period of 1770 to
1776. Nyack seems to have had no early tavern, perhaps because
of its isolation among high mountains and the Hackensack swamp¬
land. The first hotel in Nyack was the Mansion House, built on
Main Street in 1822. It was a requirement for early taverns that
they keep two spare beds, one of them a featherbed, with proper
sheetings and coverings, and good provisions for four persons and
stabling and provender for four horses.

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CHAPTER IV

Revolutionary Era

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CHAPTER IV

Revolutionary Era

The first half of the eighteenth century was an era of peace
and prosperity for Rockland. Activities in the economic realm
increased and became ever more complicated. Gristmills and saw¬
mills, with their great water-wheels, dotted the countryside.
Dwellings became more pretentious. General stores did a thriving
business in Tappan Slote and Haverstraw. Sloops made regular
trips to New York in summer, and each autumn the county laid in
goods enough to last the winter. But like a discordant strain mar¬
ring the peaceful calm of the symphony, political discontent was
welling up underneath the surface. British governors had already
shown some disposition to deny what the Colonists considered their
“rights.” The General Assembly faithfully represented the peo¬
ple’s interests, on the whole, but its members held office only during
the pleasure of the Governor, and until he was pleased to dissolve
the Assembly no new election could be arranged. Governor George
Clinton told the Assembly that it had no authority to sit except from
the King, and there were constant battles over revenue between
the Assembly and the Governor.

Events far afield were producing their effects in Rockland
County. Trouble was brewing with the French and the Indians.
French emissaries were instigating depredations by the red men
on the northern and western frontier, where there were frequent
signs that the allies were awaiting their opportunity to make a suc¬
cessful attack. Seeing that difficulties with France would culmi¬
nate in a great war, Benjamin Franklin, of Philadelphia, proposed
a plan of union for all the colonies, which failed of adoption July
4, 1754, at a convention in Albany. War came in the following
spring, when four expeditions were arranged — one to reduce Nova
Scotia, one under Braddock to recover the valley of the Ohio, one

66o

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

commanded by Governor Shirley of Massachusetts to drive the
French from Fort Niagara, and a fourth under Major General
William Johnson to assail Crown Point. New York bore much of
the brunt of war, many volunteers from the Orange and Ulster
County Militia marching across the St. Lawrence to Fort Fron-
tenac and the defenses of Lake Champlain. The strain of conflict
was severe in Orange County (in which Rockland was still
included). Indian allies of the French, moreover, turned their full
fury into the heart of the county, the district west of the Wallkill

The 76 House in Tappan, Before Its Restoration

being mostly “abandoned by the inhabitants,” who removed for
safety to less dangerous areas.

Although no violence was committed within the present bounds
of Rockland County, every man from sixteen to sixty years of age
was a member of the militia, from which forced drafts were made
from time to time to supply needs on the field of battle. Depreda¬
tions by the Indians continued years after the war with the French
ended in 1760, some of these being committed in Orange County
in 1763. The Assembly made necessary provisions for defense at
that time. As a result of these wars and of the rigid system of
military service that Great Britain enforced at all times in the

ROCKLAND COUNTY

66 1

American colonies, military leaders were being prepared for the
more important struggle that was to follow. Every man was a
soldier. Twice yearly the companies constituting a regiment or
battalion were mobilized and exercised. In 1773 Orange County
had two regiments, three battalions and twenty-three companies.
Cavalrymen were required to furnish their own horses, and every
soldier was expected to keep a pound of powder and three pounds
of bullets in his home, ready for action. No musket was to be dis¬
charged after eight o’clock in the evening except in case of alarm;
but four shots and the beating of a drum would call every militia¬
man to the colors. The French and Indian wars proved a dress
rehearsal for what was to follow.

Less than fifteen years elapsed between the fall of Montreal
and the battle of Lexington. The successive acts of oppression on
the part of Britain had brought protests from Orangetown and
Haverstraw, as in other quarters. Public sentiment finally crystal¬
lized and was recorded in the “Orangetown Resolutions” of July
4, 1774, an action that preceded the Mecklenburg Declaration of
Independence by nearly a year. The resolutions were framed in
Mabie’s Tavern, Tappan, at a meeting of citizens, and made a pro¬
found impression throughout the Colonies. The opening state¬
ments confirmed the people’s eagerness to remain ever true and
loyal subjects of His Majesty, and were evidence of the delibera¬
tion with which they set about their task. The greatest respect
was shown in this document for properly constituted authority, but
the Rockland framers of the “Orangetown Resolutions,” as they
were called, were just as direct in referring to their “abhorrence
of measures so unconstitutional and big with destruction” as those
adopted by the British Parliament. They further declared them¬
selves bound to use every just and lawful measure to obtain a
repeal of such destructive acts, and it was their “unanimous opin¬
ion that the stopping of all exportation and importation to and
from Great Britain and the West Indies would be the most effec¬
tual methods to obtain a speedy repeal.” Colonel Abraham Lent,
John Haring, Thomas Outwater, Gardner Jones and Peter T.
Haring were named a committee to correspond with the City of
New York and to come to whatever conclusions they might judge
necessary in order to obtain a repeal of the acts of Parliament of
which they were complaining.

662

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

As oppression continued, the desire for liberty became ever
stronger. It was on Sunday evening, April 22, 1775, that the peo¬
ple of Orangetown and Haverstraw heard the news brought by
riders to the effect that the now historic battle of Lexington had
been fought. Calls were quickly issued for a Provincial Congress
in New York City and a Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
From Rockland County the following delegates were sent to
the Provincial Congress : Colonel Abraham Lent and John Har¬
ing, from Orangetown; John Coe and David Pye, from Haver¬
straw. These were sent along with delegates from Goshen and
Cornwall. The Orangetown representatives were chosen at a
meeting held at the house of Yoost Mabie, where Jacob Conklin
was chairman and Dr. Thomas Outwater acted as clerk. The Pro¬
vincial Congress met at the Exchange, in New York City, on May
22, and one of the first resolutions was that posts be taken up in
the Highlands on each side of the Hudson, and batteries erected to
prevent enemy ships from passing upward. Colonel James Clinton
and Christopher Tappen, of Ulster County, were assigned to
conduct investigations in the Highlands, along with others of
their choice, the group to report to Congress the best site for
fortifications.

Fortifying the river was, indeed, a wise move, as later events
revealed. For, following the preliminary action around Boston,
the principal strategy of the war on the part of the British was to
divide the Colonies on the line of the Hudson. This strategy
revealed itself in the landing of Howe’s army on Long Island.
General Schuyler, at Ticonderoga, wrote a letter that greatly influ¬
enced the Continental Congress and the whole course of action. In
this document the general wrote : “Should a body of forces be
sent up Hudson’s river, and a chain of vessels stationed in all its
extent, it would undoubtedly greatly distress if not wholly ruin

our cause . To me, Sir, every object of importance sinks

almost to nothing when put in competition with the securing of
Hudson’s river.” Rockland thus stood at the forefront in the
whole plan of defense. And it stood by the order of Congress:
“You will have great regard to moral character, sobriety in par¬
ticular. Let our manners distinguish us from our enemies as much
as the cause we are engaged in.”

ROCKLAND COUNTY

663

The Congress at Philadelphia asked New York to raise four
regiments for the Continental Line, and the Provincial Congress
approved the formation of these regiments and named the officers.
Arrangements were made for the manufacture of muskets at New
Windsor and powder at Rhinebeck. A temporary powder supply
from Elizabethtown was brought by mule team to Dobbs Ferry
(west shore), where David Pye, acting for Congress, received it
and consigned it to a sloop bound for Albany. Congress adjourned
July 8, leaving a Committee of Safety in charge. Mr. Pye repre¬
sented Orange County on that committee. Arrangements were
made for the purchase of the finest and warmest clothing to serve
the Colonial troops. On June 15 George Washington was chosen
by the Congress at Philadelphia to command the Continental
forces. The “Pledge of Association,” vowing allegiance to the
patriot cause, received many signatures in Orangetown, Haver-
straw and other Rockland communities. There were others who
signed a document opposing warfare but standing firmly on the
principle of “no taxation without representation.” There were
some “aristocrats,” most of them more recently arrived from Eng¬
land, who never at any time entered into the revolutionary spirit.
It was known that sentiment on the east side of the lower Hudson
was less revolutionary than in the Rockland area, where, in pro¬
portion to the population, a tremendous number of men were in the
service.

In August, 1775, Congress reconstructed the militia, and in
obedience to orders this area was divided into districts, or beats,
by the local Committee of Safety, one company of soldiers to be
raised in each district. A company ordinarily consisted of eighty-
three men, including officers. The officers were chosen by the
ballots of all the members in the most democratic manner possible.
The company was drawn up in line before the local Committee of
Safety, and each man stepped forward and registered his choice.
Unless for some reason excused, every able-bodied man was a
member of the militia, and, as such, was subject to call at any time.
Congress next formed companies of “minute men,” taking every
fourth man from the militia for this purpose. When whole com¬
panies volunteered as “minute men,” they were commanded by the
officers they had already chosen. Otherwise militia officers were

664

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

appointed according to rank. The minute men met weekly for
drill, and the militia met monthly. Brigades were formed by coun¬
ties — New York, Kings and Richmond counties as one brigade;
Dutchess and Westchester, another; Orange and Ulster, a third,
this brigade serving under General George Clinton, along with the
Queens and Suffolk troops.

When the Committee of Safety met again, in September, John
Haring, of Orangetown, was unanimously chosen chairman. In
October the first batteries were completed in the Highlands and
the colors raised over them. The first fortifications were on Con¬
stitution Island, or Martelaers Rack. Colonel Hay,, of Haver-
straw, was named commissary for all the militia north of Kings-
bridge when in service on the west side of the Hudson. Captain
Hutchins was made commander of the Haverstraw Minute Men.
The minute men soon disappeared as a body under the pressure of
war. The militia of Orangetown became one regiment, and the
militia of Haverstraw another. In February, 1776, David Pye,
chairman of a committee on the south side of the mountain, recom¬
mended certain officers for two companies, and officers for one
company were actually chosen from among local men. A company
was mustered in the same month at Kakiat.

The Continental Congress made its first request for troops
from Orange County in November, 1775, asking for sixty-seven
men to assist in garrisoning the Highland batteries. Ulster and
Dutchess contributed the same number for the same purpose. Aft¬
erward Amos Hutchins’ minute men from Haverstraw, Robert
Johnson’s from Clarkstown and Denton’s from Goshen were taken
to join the 1st Continental Regiment in New York. In March,
1776, sixty-five privates from Colonel Hay’s regiment of militia
and thirty-five from Colonel Blauvelt’s were drafted for the Con¬
tinental Line. Seven men in Captain Avery Blauvelt’s militia com¬
pany, on refusing to obey the draft, were arrested and taken to
New York under guard. The companies thus sent to New York
were sent under Montgomery to invade Canada. They were well
armed and uniformed, wearing blue broadcloth dresscoats, with
crimson cuffs and facings, the breeches coming to the knee, where
the long homespun stockings began. The whole was surmounted
by the Revolutionary broad-brimmed felt hat. Their effort to take

ROCKLAND COUNTY 665

Quebec was ill-fated, as history shows, but their gallantry was of
the finest.

Early in July, 1776, General Howe landed, first on Staten
Island, and on August 27 the battle of Long Island was fought.
The British then obtained control of the lower Hudson, including
New York City; and Washington was compelled to retreat in the
following month to Harlem Heights, then to White Plains, where,
on October 28, a battle was fought. The American divisions
retreated into New Jersey, and on November 16 the British took
Fort Washington. Two days later Fort Lee fell. The Fourth
Provincial Congress removed from New York, going successively
to Harlem, Kingsbridge, Yonkers, White Plains and Fishkill. The
delegates to that Congress from this county were John Haring,
David Pye, Thomas Outwater, Joshua H. Smith, Isaac Sherwood,
William Allison, Archibald Little and Jeremiah Clarke. Fort
Montgomery stood on the north side of Poplopen’s Kill, and when
the British appeared at New York construction was begun on
another fort on the south side of Poplopen’s Kill, on higher ground
than Fort Montgomery. A boom with chain was also stretched
across the river from Fort Montgomery to Anthony’s Nose, where
there was a fortified position. A massive construction of logs and
chains was surmounted by two suspended cables whose ends were
fastened to each shore. Above these batteries several armed ves¬
sels, including the “Montgomery” and the “Congress,” were sta¬
tioned. All this construction around Anthony’s Nose was per¬
formed by the Fort Montgomery garrison under General George
Clinton’s direction.

On Friday, July 14, signal fires from High Tor and other
mountain tops, with cannon shots from the forts and the beating
of drums, called the militia to arms. Three large ships of war
and four cutters had passed the forts at New York that afternoon,
and some hours later one forty-gun and one twenty-gun ship
anchored off Nyack. That night a boat attempted to land, but
turned back on being challenged. Fast couriers rode from Haver-
straw on Colonel Hay’s orders, and companies were soon on the
march. Four hundred concealed riflemen lined the Nyack shore
next morning. An attempted landing by the British failed as a
barge met the fire from shore and a cutter grounded, and the

666

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

enemy vessels set sail up the river. The patriots followed by
road. At noon the ships arrived in Haverstraw Bay and came to
anchor off the village. Four barges were lowered, the aim being
evidently to ransack the stores accumulated here. Smaller ships
came in to cover the landing party, but met firm resistance from
shore, led by John Coe. Broadsides from the ships failed of their
purpose, doing practically no damage at all, and the /'battle of
Haverstraw” ended in a victory for the defenders. In the after¬
noon one of the British cutters grounded off Stony Point, and could
have been destroyed had Colonel Hay been properly equipped with
artillery. Six hours later the vessel worked herself free. When
in the middle of the river the ships were out of range of shore fire,
and, besides, they were protected along their sides by sandbags.

At this period all regiments north of the Highlands were
ordered to stand ready to march at a moment’s notice, and owners
of sloops were ordered to make themselves ready to carry militia.
Congress ordered one-fourth of all the militia into active service
in Orange, Ulster, Dutchess and Westchester, those on the east
side of the Hudson to proceed to Peekskill and those on the west to
places to be designated by General Clinton. Each regiment con¬
sisted of ten companies, and each company had sixty-one men.
Every private had to furnish or pay for his own gun and to provide
himself with a knapsack and blanket, and every six men were
expected to equip themselves with a camp kettle. The enlistment
term was six months. A bounty of $20 and Continental pay were
allowed to each man. Captain Moffat and eighty men were sent
from Fort Montgomery to reinforce the shore guard at Haver¬
straw and permit some of Hay’s men to return home. One hun¬
dred men of the precinct were to remain on duty for a week, then
were to be relieved by one hundred others of the same regiment.
The commanding general arrived at Haverstraw on Sunday, the
seventeenth, and moved the government goods, sheep and cattle
back to a place of safety. The British ships, the largest of which
were the “Phenix” and the "Rose,” made many soundings. No
communications with shore were permitted. On Sunday afternoon
a cutter ventured too far up the river and received a bolt in her
quarter from one of Fort Montgomery’s thirty-two-pounders. She
thereupon hastily retreated. Later the same cutter sent a party

ROCKLAND COUNTY

667

ashore at Peekskill to commit depredations. They set fire to one
house and a wheatfield, when some American riflemen opened fire
and killed several.

Ship movements and shore activities kept the shore guard and
the Fort Montgomery garrison constantly on the alert, and Gen¬
eral Clinton posted sentinels on the point of the Dunderberg and
elsewhere with orders to discharge their muskets and start signal
fires if the ships made any suspicious movement. Non-combatants
were forbidden to walk along the shore after dark, and all boats
were kept in Minisceongo Creek, near Colonel Hay’s house, under
guard, with the object of preventing any communication with the
enemy. Some large fire-rafts that had been fashioned at Pough¬
keepsie were lined up by a system of anchors and cables between
Fort Montgomery and Anthony’s Nose. Some of these were old
sloops and schooners. All were filled with highly combustible
material, to be ignited in case of attack, not only to guide the aim
of the gunners, but to menace and, if possible, destroy the enemy’s
ships. Along the east shore General Clinton had prepared large
piles of brush, wood and leaves, with sentries at hand to fire them
on signal from below. One night a deserter from the “Rose”
swam ashore, and Colonel Hay and Captain Nicoll obtained all pos¬
sible information from him and transmitted what they learned to
General Clinton, who in turn passed it on to New York.

The squadron continued in Haverstraw Bay until 10:30 on the
morning of July 25, then crossed over to the cove on the south side
of Croton Point, at the mouth of the Croton River, where it gath¬
ered some supplies from the Westchester shore. Meanwhile, the
defenders on the west shore were building defenses on the south
side of Poplopen’s Kill and at the foot of Anthony’s Nose. It was
on August 3 that five American vessels moved up the Tappan Zee,
marking the hour of reckoning for the British ships. The Ameri¬
can boats were few, but were well armed. The “Phenix” fired the
first shot, which the “Lady Washington,” commanded by Benja¬
min Tupper, answered. People swarmed on the river banks to
watch the first naval fight in the Hudson’s history. The shot from
the “Phenix” missed its mark, but not so the return projectile.
The companion ships of the “Lady Washington” — the “Spitfire,”
“Shark,” “Whiting” and “Crown” — ranged up and poured their

668

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

gunfire into the British vessel, while the “Rose” and four sloops-of-
war aided the “Phenix” on the British side. A terrific hg*ht con¬
tinued for an hour and a half, then ended by common consent after
much damage was done on both sides. The British never tried to
renew the battle; and the Americans, knowing that other British
ships were in New York Harbor and fearing to be caught between
two fires, retired to Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The King’s ships ran
past Fort Washington on the eighteenth to join the British fleet in
the bay below. The shore guard and the garrisons at the High¬
lands forts could then be reduced to skeleton organizations.

Rockland men took part in much of the fighting of the period
outside the county’s borders, notably at Harlem Heights and
White Plains. Scarcely a home in Orangetown or Haverstraw
was not overcrowded from housing refugees from New York City.
The wounded from Harlem Heights also were sent by sloop to
Tappan and then to the courthouse in Orangetown. The Indians
even repeated their depredations from the west. On the morning
of October 9 three British ships again appeared, one of them the
“Phenix.” Some American vessels gave them chase, but wind
and tide favored the British, and Americans from the “Independ¬
ence” finally swam ashore above Dobbs Ferry. Beacon fires blazed
along the river that night, and between November 8 and 10 Wash¬
ington’s army crossed to the west side of the Hudson. Lord Ster¬
ling crossed on the ninth at King’s Ferry with one thousand two
hundred men, followed next day by General Hand with seven thou¬
sand and by General Ball with one thousand seven hundred of Put¬
nam’s men. Other divisions passed over at Sneden’s Landing and
Tappan Slote. General Howe followed with six thousand British
troops, crossing to Closter, New Jersey.

In the next two months armies marched over Rockland, where
skirmishes were frequent. Seven British vessels lay off Nyack,
whose shores the sailors occassionally raided. Tories among the
population became more daring. When Tyler’s regiment with¬
drew from Tappan to Ramapo, they raided Tappan, cut down the
liberty pole, stole what they could steal, and terrorized the inhabi¬
tants. Colonel Malcolm’s forces next morning routed the Tories
from their homes, and they went as refugees to Bergen County,
New Jersey, there to form companies in support of the British.

ROCKLAND COUNTY

669

So menacing did they become in the vicinity of Tappan that Gen¬
eral Heath marched there with two thousand men, proceeding in
two days to Hackensack. Colonel Hasbrouck’s regiment, from
Newburgh, now took over at Haverstraw, and Colonel Allison’s
regiment at Orangetown. The display of strength that followed
somewhat lessened Tory zeal. Then General Clinton, with two
thousand men from Orange and Ulster, marched into the Ramapo
Valley. General Heath returned to Peekskill after capturing large
stores at Hackensack, when the British fled as he approached
Newark. General Clinton, meanwhile, established strong posts
at Sydman’s Bridge, Suffern and Tappan. He had his headquar¬
ters for a time at Suffern, then a strategical point of importance.

Military processions and supplies constantly passed over the
military road to King’s Ferry, which was a door of communication
between Washington’s army and New England, between Boston
and Philadelphia, between the northern and the southern Colonies.
Colonel Hay, at Haverstraw, had to keep Clinton’s forces supplied
with provisions — a terrific job for that day. All supplies came to
him by way of King’s Ferry, the east landing of which was at the
end of Verplanck’s Point, while the west landing was in the cove
on the north side of Stony Point. The river at this point is narrow,
and here was the first crossing-place available to the Americans
at that time north of New York City.

A lull in operations came with winter and after the Americans
were victorious at Trenton and Princeton; and the Rockland
militiamen were allowed to go home for the most part for the win¬
ter months. Howe had secured for the British possession of Staten
Island, Long Island, Manhattan Island and Rhode Island. Con¬
necticut had about decided that the war was over. The lower Hud¬
son, Westchester County and New Jersey were at his mercy.
Orange County alone had not yielded. Defense work went on here
throughout the winter. Lieutenant Colonel Johannes David Blau-
velt, who had succeeded Colonel Abraham Lent as commander at
Orangetown, himself resigned March 1, 1777. General Clinton
named Major Johannes Joseph Blauvelt to succeed him. Later the
Orangetown unit was merged into the Haverstraw regiment.

British ships appeared in the spring. On March 22, 1777, a
twenty-gun frigate and two galleys, convoying four large trans-

6/0

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

ports filled with troops, anchored in Haverstraw Bay, off Croton
Point. Next day at noon one thousand redcoats under Colonel
Bird landed at Peekskill and caused destruction to American maga¬
zines, barracks and storehouses, retiring without the loss of a man.
General McDougall, lacking numbers to oppose the British, fled
with most of his stores to Fort Independence, ten miles distant.

i,-p

On the west side of the river Colonel Hay had now fewer than one
hundred men to protect the ferry and the bay shore, and he appealed
to General Clinton for reinforcements. Clinton then had more
important posts to guard, having sent several regiments into the
field, and was forced to deny, at least temporarily, the request of
Hay. Hay’s difficulty in mustering a force in Haverstraw now
increased. It was easy to call out men, but harder to make them
obey the call, and still harder to make them stay when once they
were on duty. The major at Haverstraw announced that he would
give up before he would go through another winter like the pre¬
vious one, and many of the men felt that it was, above all, impor¬
tant for them to care for their homes and farms. It was only at a
later period in the war that sufficient disciplines were evolved to
keep the military units properly organized.

The British squadron lying off Sneden’s Landing, in Tappan
Zee, was reinforced, and a fleet of twenty-two sailing ships had
been concentrated off Fort Washington. On April 25 the ships at
Fort Washington moved up the river and joined those at Sneden’s
Landing, only to return May 1 without attacking. The real attack
came in October. Three simultaneous campaigns were arranged,
in three parts of the country, but all intended to accomplish one
central end, the conquest of the Hudson. First, Howe was to pro¬
ceed on land and sea against Philadelphia to draw Washington
away from the Highlands with the largest possible number of
troops. This design was accomplished. Second, Sir Henry Clin¬
ton was to dash up the Hudson. And third, Burgoyne and St.
Leger were to stage a long series of marches, which turned out
mostly to be unsuccessful. The armies from Canada were stopped.
But Sir Henry Clinton got through. Why England did not take
full advantage of this victory remains one of the war’s mysteries.
The Highland defenses at this point consisted of Fort Montgom¬
ery with its boom and chain, Fort Clinton nearby, the batteries '

ROCKLAND COUNTY

671

opposite West Point (Fort Constitution), and Fort Independence
(two miles north of Peekskill). No works had been established at
West Point, Stony Point or Verplanck’s Point. From Plum Point
to Pollopel’s Island extended a great chevaux-de-frise consisting
of stone-filled cribs sunk in the river and holding in position long
iron-tipped spars. The points of the spars, at an angle, lay a few
feet beneath the surface, ready to rip open the first English frigate
that tried to pass. Everything was in readiness except men. Both
Washington (on the Delaware) and Schuyler (on the upper Hud¬
son) issued calls for troops; and Clinton and Putnam weakened
their lines by answering these calls.

Clinton had now become Governor of New York, a Province
which had to bear single-handed the brunt of the attack from
Canada and the attack in the Hudson. Washington wrote to
Clinton on August 5 that he thought the British planned to send
forces up the Hudson to meet Burgoyne while his own army was
held back by Howe. Relay riders kept Clinton informed of devel¬
opments in the north. Then came Washington’s misfortune on the
Brandywine. Clinton ordered more regiments afield — two to join
General Putnam at Peekskill, two to strengthen the Fort Mont¬
gomery garrison, three to report to General McDougall at Ramapo.
Every regiment of the State Guard south of Kingston was now on
duty. No others were called, for Gates was appealing for help in
the north.

On October 4 news came that the British fleet had landed troops
at Tarrytown. Next day, at dawn, an even larger armada stopped
between the headlands of Stony Point and Verplanck’s Point.
Several thousand men were landed at Verplanck’s before sun-up.
Putnam was deceived, as the British had intended, and retreated
inland, leaving the forts to their fate. American leaders were now
at a loss to know at which, of many points, the British would choose
to attack. The morning of October 6 was foggy, when a guard
heard the sound of oars. He went seven miles to give warning to
the Governor. A party then went to the Haverstraw Road and
clashed with the British vanguard. Governor Clinton heard the
musketry, and detached one hundred men to harass the advancing
foe. So deadly was their fire down into a ravine that they stopped
a long British column that was advancing on Fort Clinton.

672

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Another force was reported coming along the Forest of Dean
Road to Fort Montgomery, where the Governor was in personal
command. Clinton ordered up Colonel Lamb with sixty Conti¬
nentals, who were soon reinforced by sixty more. An effort to get
help from General Putnam failed, the messenger turning traitor
and deserting. But Colonel Lamb and his supports faced the
invader with terrific determination, wheeling his gun into the face
of the advancing Tories until the British fell back, leaving many
dead and wounded.

The Americans could not hold out indefinitely, however, and
Forts Montgomery and Clinton had finally to be given up. The
fire-rafts in the river were set ablaze, and the crews of the “Con¬
gress” and “Montgomery” set these vessels afire. The “Lady
Washington” and “Shark” retreated up the river at the first favor¬
able wind. The “Lady Washington” disappeared into Rondout
Creek, where later she aided the shore batteries in battling
Vaughan’s expedition. To save her from the British, the crew
scuttled her in the creek. The British force at King’s Ferry num¬
bered one thousand two hundred men, commanded by General Sir
John Vaughan, and nine hundred commanded by Lieutenant Colo¬
nel Campbell. All of these went around the west of Dunderberg.
Vaughan’s division halted here, while Campbell’s forces continued
to the north side of Bear Mountain in order to reach Fort Mont¬
gomery’s rear. While waiting for Campbell’s guns, Vaughan was
attacked by American scouts, and the battle began. The Ameri¬
cans splendidly resisted the British, who, however, tremendously
outnumbered them. General James Clinton was bayoneted at his
post, but escaped death and made his way home. The Governor
dropped down the Heights unscratched, and from the beach stepped
into a small boat which with others put off for the east shore.
Colonels McClaughry, Allison and Woodhull and Major Logan
were captured, as were many others. Putnam’s reinforcements
came in time to see the fire-rafts burning. So Forts Clinton and
Montgomery fell. Sir Henry’s fleet remained at anchor off Stony
Point, except for some venturesome small vessels which met gun¬
fire from shore. But with the forts in their possession, the British
took Peekskill within a few days and massed most of their forces
there. As Putnam offered no resistance, Forts Independence and

ROCKLAND COUNTY

673

Constitution fell to the enemy. Vaughan and Wallace made some
headway up the river. Governor Clinton collected his remaining
troops at the Falls House, Little Britain, and many others joined
them in driving the British back to their ships. The British were
ready enough to leave the Upper Hudson when news came of
Burgoyne’s defeat in the north. But Sir Henry Clinton, with
his headquarters at Peekskill, kept control of the Highland forts
for twenty days, then destroyed them and returned with all his
troops to New York.

In the fore part of 1778 the Americans again began erecting
fortifications in the Highlands. West Point was the place chosen
for the principal works. Forts, batteries and redoubts rose in tiers
here from the water’s edge to the crown of Mount Independence,
where Fort Putnam overlooked all and protected the rear. Fort
Arnold, later renamed Fort Clinton, on the edge of the plain, com¬
manded a wide sweep of the river, and great guns looked through
embrasures wherever the enemy might appear. A massive chain
and boom spanned the river. The Sterling Iron Works forged the
iron. Two years of fortification building made West Point the
“American Gibraltar.” Stony Point and Verplanck’s Point, thir¬
teen miles southward, were considered important, but not so defen¬
sible as West Point. Some defenses were erected here, however,
as outposts of West Point and as protection for King’s Ferry.

Most of the activities of 1778 took place outside New York.
On June 18 the British evacuated Philadelphia. The battle of
Monmouth came ten days later. There followed the arrival of the
French fleet under Count d’Estaing and the massacres of Wyom¬
ing and Cherry Valley. But King’s Ferry was not molested. At
the end of September action came close to Rockland, when Lord
Cornwallis occupied the country between Hackensack and the Hud¬
son for strategical purposes. General Knyphausen simultaneously
occupied portions of Westchester. And a war fleet, containing
many flat-bottomed boats, was anchored in the Hudson, mainly to
provide ready transportation in case Washington should attack
either wing. Cornwallis heard that a battalion of Virginians,
called “Mrs. Washington’s Own” because they were from Vir¬
ginia, was stationed three miles south of Tappan, under the com-

S.E.N.Y. — 43

674

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

mand of Colonel Baylor. He sent General Grey to oppose this
unit, which was an advance guard for Wayne. Seeking to annihi¬
late Wayne’s brigade and the Virginia Light Dragoons, Grey sent
his forces to Baylor’s quarters in the houses of the Blauvelts, the
Demarests, the Harings, the Bogarts and the Holdrinns, giving
orders to “stab all and take no prisoners.” A horrible massacre
followed, even those who surrendered being bayoneted and brained
after they had surrendered. Some of the 116 dragoons had as
many as ten or twelve bayonet thrusts through their bodies. One
English captain disobeyed orders and refrained from stabbing
those who had surrendered.

Fortunately General Wayne’s brigade was warned, and escaped
the fate of the advance guard. Colonel Hay marched from Rock¬
land a few miles into New Jersey, but had to return to Clarkstown
when he found that Cornwallis’ army was to be dealt with. Rein¬
forcements came temporarily at the Governor’s command. A peti¬
tion of October 18, 1778, told the Governor of further cruelties,
this time to women and old men, near Clarkstown. In December a
fleet of twenty-six sailing vessels appeared off Nyack, whereupon
five hundred Pennsylvania troops were ordered from Peekskill to
Haverstraw. After landing at Tarrytown on Friday of that first
week in December, the British reembarked and came to the head
of Haverstraw Bay, anchoring at nine o’clock in the morning. At
eleven they landed one thousand five hundred men at King’s Ferry.
Though the American force could offer no resistance and the guard
retired, the stores that the British expected to lay hold of had been
first removed. When Nixon’s brigade advanced to attack the
British at the ferry, the redcoats fled back to their ships and set
sail down the river.

The middle year of the war, 1779, opened with a British army
of thirteen thousand in New York. West Point was now recog¬
nized as “the key to the continent.” Washington and his troops
had passed the winter at Middlebrook, New Jersey, a short distance
north of Bound Brook, where they had fared much better than the
year before. Sir Henry Clinton was afraid he might meet Bur-
goyne’s fate if he tried to attack Washington directly, where the
American strength was great. So, without any intention of really
attacking West Point, he made movements in this direction, mainly
to lure Washington into territory where he would be weaker.

ROCKLAND COUNTY

675

Sir Henry’s first move in furtherance of this plan was to seize
Stony Point and Verplanck’s Point. The move was made with a
combined land and naval attack. About seventy sail, with many
small boats, moved up to Yonkers on Sunday, May 30, 1779, where
four thousand troops under General Vaughan went aboard. On
the same day they sailed for Haverstraw Bay, with Sir Henry in
personal command, and anchored out of range of Verplanck’s
Point’s guns. A part of Vaughan’s force landed on the east shore,
and the rest, under Sir Henry, sailed to a point three miles south
of Stony Point, at Haverstraw village. The people fled. Colonel
Hay’s forces were not sufficient to resist. As Sir Henry’s troops
advanced toward Stony Point, the Americans there set fire to the
blockhouse, then fell back from the burning area to the mainland
and finally to the mountains. Cross-firing was already going on
at Fort Lafayette, Verplanck’s Point, which the British had bom¬
barded from the river. And without opposition Sir Henry took
possession of the heights. With difficulty the British spent that
night drawing guns up the steep sides of the promontory. Fifty-
eight men were hardly able to get up the heavy twelve-pounder.

Vaughan’s corps appeared about noon, and escape was cut ofif
for Captain Armstrong and his company of seventy-five North
Carolinians. Captain Andre, afterward Major Andre, was sent
with a flag of truce to demand the surrender of the place, and the
commander permitted the colors to be lowered, deeming further
resistance useless. In the same two days the Haverstraw Militia
harassed the British rear. The British, under Sir Henry, set about
making Stony Point as impregnable as possible, from inland as
well as from the river.

Hearing of Sir Henry’s departure from New York, Washing¬
ton set out on May 30, and on June 6 passed Tuxedo Lake and
entered the Ramapo Valley. On the following day the Virginia
division camped near the present Newburgh Junction, with the
Pennsylvanians and the Maryland division nearby. This line-up
enabled Washington to reach the Hudson at several points on short
notice and in the most effective manner. There was even a chance
of catching Sir Henry in a trap should the British venture farther
into the hills. The chief American loss thus far was the closing to
them of the facilities of King’s Ferry; and, accepting this loss,

676

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Washington and the others were not to be led into foolhardy action.
The British left one ship, the “Vulture,” at King’s Ferry, and
recalled the remainder to New York, whence marauding expedi¬
tions were sent into Westchester and Connecticut, mainly aiming
to draw Washington and his main army to that quarter.

The main Continental Army, about ten thousand men, was
divided as follows: Three brigades of Massachusetts and North
Carolina troops under McDougall, at West Point, the center; a
left wing, Massachusetts and Connecticut divisions under General
Heath, at Garrison, on the east side of the Hudson; and a right
wing, with Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania brigades, under
Putnam, in Smith’s Clove and at the Forest of Dean Mines. Gen¬
eral “Mad” Anthony Wayne was now called from his home at
Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, and assigned to command the Light In¬
fantry Corps, four battalions of which had been posted on the pla¬
teau on the river’s west bank, north of and near Fort Montgomery.
Washington’s purpose was secretly to attack Stony Point, and, to
this end, he dispatched Wayne to gain all the information he could
about the British defenses there. Wayne accordingly went to the
area with two of his officers, Colonels Butler and Walter Stewart,
and as a result of their investigations he reported that a “storm”
would be impracticable, but that a “surprise” might be effected.
Other investigations followed, and on at least one occasion Wash¬
ington went personally to examine the position and approaches at
Stony Point. On one occasion, too, Washington sent an officer to
make observations unknown to Wayne. Major Harry Lee’s rifle¬
men made observations from the craggy sides of Dunderberg, and
Colonel Rufus Putnam made careful surveys and sketches from a
commanding eminence.

Behind the scenes Wayne was fashioning into being an enthusi¬
astic and inspired army. It was his conviction that pride was
above all an enviable virtue in a soldier, and so he said he would
rather risk his life at the head of a well-groomed brigade with
only one round of ammunition than lead the same men when well
armed but poorly clothed. “It may be a false idea,” he said, “but
I can’t help cherishing it.” Washington tried to satisfy his subor¬
dinate’s requirement for clothing. Wayne’s corps was thus built
up until it comprised four regiments of two battalions each, with

ROCKLAND COUNTY

677

four full companies to a battalion. Wayne, styled by his enemy,
Sir Henry Clinton, “a heaven-made general,” trained his men to
know that they were to face the most formidable opposition that
the enemy could throw against them. It was the belief of all that
West Point was the goal of Sir Henry. As Baron Steuben said to
Washington: “I am positive that their operations are directed
exclusively to getting possession of this post and the river as far
as Albany. If this is not their plan they have not got one which
is worth the expense of a campaign. On their success depends the
fate of America.”

Stony Point itself was considered well-nigh impregnable. To
an American captain who had to go to the fort with a flag of truce
an Englishman said sarcastically that, in the event the Americans
wished to “storm” the fort, “we will let you send your best engi¬
neer to take a plan of the works before you attack.” Meanwhile,
Washington laid his plans. He favored an attack under cover of
darkness, each man wearing a white cockade to distinguish him
in the night, made in three divisions, and with the silence of bayonet
charges and unloaded muskets. The attack would be at midnight
rather than just before dawn, the customary hour for night
assaults. Wayne added the touch that information be given out
that the whole Virginia line was to support the light infantry.
Wayne specified a march around Bear and Dunderberg mountains
by existing roads or paths to the rear of Stony Point, the identical
route over which the British had advanced two years earlier to
attack Fort Montgomery. Great secrecy was maintained. And
when the men started marching on July 15, they probably consid¬
ered the march all a part of drill until they found themselves enter¬
ing the mountains. General Wayne timed the march for arrival at
David Springsteel’s house, near the lower edge of the mountains,
at eight o’clock. So silently was the march consummated that,
according to subsequent English reports, American scouts killed
every dog in the district to prevent the barking by which these ani¬
mals might have attracted enemy attention.

On that beautiful summer evening, filled with flower scents in
the peaceful vale, the men received the orders of the night and
heard them explained. A bounty of $500 with immediate promo¬
tion was offered the first man to enter the British works, $400 for

678

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

the second, $300 for the third, $200 for the fourth and $100 for
the fifth. The main attack was to be from the south, with a central
attack as a feint to draw the enemy away from certain positions.
The North Carolinians on the main road were alone to use fire¬
arms, the others to rely -on bayonets and silence. When prepara¬
tions were all finished, Wayne confided to a friend: “I am called
to sup, but where to breakfast — either within the enemy’s lines in
triumph, or in another world.” At half-past eleven the march
began, a half-hour being required to reach the marsh dividing the
promontory from the mainland. Wayne’s own column passed
around and through what is the present village of Stony Point,
while the North Carolinians kept on going to the edge of the marsh,
where they waited until the time for firing came.

Stony Point loomed black and forbidding. Water covered the
sands. It was high tide. There was no way but to go through it.
Two hundred yards away was the fortress. The first splash meant
discovery. A shot rang from the British picket line. Other shots
reechoed as the North Carolinians began to “amuse” themselves.
Most of the firing from above went overhead, and the feint from
the North Carolinians helped the real attack. “Come on; we defy
you!” rang the words from above. “We’ll be with you in a min¬
ute,” the Americans answered. The Americans literally clambered
over one another to be first inside the fort. Lieutenant Colonel
Fleury was the first man to make it, and shouted: “The fort’s
our own!” Two of the first five men inside the fort were wounded
when they gained entrance, but all five joined in crying, “The fort’s
our own!”

Gibbons’ men diverged to the right of their planned movement
on the order of Major Stewart, and the manner of the American
entry to the fort split the British in such a way that they could be
overwhelmed. Bullets joined with bayonets in bringing victory.
Wayne, struck by a bullet, asked to be carried inside the fort so
that he might die there if the wound were mortal. But when the
wound was found to be slight, he was able to dispatch news of the
victory to Washington at two o’clock in the morning. The whole
battle lasted about twenty-five or thirty minutes. Guns were at
once brought against Verplanck’s Point by a company of artillery,
and some bolts were directed at the British ship “Vulture,” which

ROCKLAND COUNTY 679

hurried out of range. Fifteen Americans died that night; eighty-
three were wounded. Sixty-three British were killed, more than
seventy wounded and 543 taken prisoner to Easton, Pennsylvania.
The Americans secured fifteen pieces of artillery and military
stores valued at $158,640.82 and purchased at that price by Con-
, gress, the money being divided among the soldiers who took part
in the fight. Each private’s share was $78.92. General Wayne
received $1,420.51. Other spoils, worth about $22,000, were
apportioned. Fleury and Knox declined the money reward to
which they were entitled, asking that it be divided among the
men. Fleury also refused the promotion that was his due, pre¬
ferring to remain with the Light Infantry Corps.

Washington was prevented by a series of accidents from attack¬
ing Verplanck’s the next day. He had no thought of holding
Stony Point, and after everything valuable had been removed he
had the entire fortification dismantled and destroyed. He had
accomplished his purpose when a British fleet arrived in Haver-
straw Bay on July 19 and Sir Henry again took possession. The
“Lady Washington,” which had been raised from the bottom of
Rondout Creek in the fall of 1777, was lost during the Stony Point
fighting. Carrying away supplies toward West Point, she was
fired upon and crippled by the “Vulture” and from Verplanck’s,
so that her crew had no recourse but to ground her and set her
afire. The light infantry remained at Fort Montgomery until
October, when they moved openly down to Haverstraw and again
threatened Stony Point. Sir Henry then abandoned King’s Ferry
altogether. A native Rockland County man who has recently
written of these swift-moving events within this county’s borders
is George H. Budke, historian of the Rockland County Society,
whose articles in the Nyack “Journal-News” in February, 1944,
attracted wide interest.

On June 19, 1778, by direction of Washington, Benedict Arn¬
old had taken command at Philadelphia. Early in 1779 he was
about to be married to the daughter of a leading royalist, the beau¬
tiful Peggy Shippen. He was a man of brilliant military achieve¬
ment, a strategist of proven ability and a fearless leader. When
charges were brought against him to Congress by the Philadelphia
Executive Council, the main one was not officially listed — that of

6So

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

entertaining, not only Tory ladies, but the wives and daughters of
persons proscribed by the State. Arnold replied that he was not
making war upon women. During this crisis he was prepared for
the British overtures that were to come from New York. It is prob¬
able that he succumbed to these overtures when humiliated by Con¬
gress and even by Washington.

Mrs. Arnold knew Major Andre, who, as mentioned above,
had already stepped ashore on Rockland in the spring of 1779.
Probably this acquaintance helped to initiate the correspondence
between General Arnold and Sir Henry Clinton. Most of this
correspondence appeared in the guise of commercial transactions.
It was only when Arnold was placed in command of “West Point
and its dependencies’’ that it lay in his power to do much damage.
He personally applied to Washington for this appointment, where¬
upon General Schuyler and others supported his request. He gave
his lameness as a reason for preferring this post to service in the
field. In the first week of August, 1780, Arnold took up his head¬
quarters at the Beverly Robinson house, in Garrison. Robinson
had joined the royalists, and the government had seized his real
estate. Now Arnold had something of value to market.

When on the way to receive his new assignment, Arnold stopped
at the mansion of Joshua Hett Smith, in Haverstraw, on the road
to King’s Ferry. Smith was a lawyer, and Governor George Clin¬
ton had studied law under his brother, Judge William Smith, who
was called by some a “spy.” There was nothing unusual in this
fact, for literally hundreds and thousands of Americans of Eng¬
lish origin were suspected or had outright royalist sympathies
throughout the whole of the Revolution. One historian said that
charges against William Smith were for the purpose of deceiving
the British so that he might act within their rank as a “rebel spy.”
The sympathies of the Smith family were well-nigh unfathomable.
Finally Judge William Smith declared royalist sympathies and
was named British Chief Justice.

In the few weeks in which Arnold was in command at West
Point, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Arnold frequently visited each other,
as did Arnold and Smith. Mrs. Arnold was at the time twenty
years old, her husband thirty-nine. Mrs. Smith was a South Caro¬
linian, also very young ; her husband was thirty-one. Smith saw

ROCKLAND COUNTY

68 1

many flags of truce passing and repassing on the river, and once
asked Arnold if the flags were for the exchange of prisoners. Arn¬
old replied that in a short time all this would be explained. Later
he said that the flags covered letters from Colonel Beverly Robin¬
son, who was eager to recover confiscated property and was, in
addition, eager to propose some preliminary grounds for “an
accommodation” between Great Britain and America. Colonel
Lamb, who was present, interjected that any such proposals ought
to be made to Congress. Arnold replied that the communication
must first be made through some channel, and the subject was
dropped. Lamb corroborated Smith on this conversation at the
court-martial.

On Wednesday, September 20, 1780, Major John Andre, adju¬
tant general of Sir Henry’s army, went to the “Vulture,” whither
Joshua Hett Smith was to come. Present also on the ship was
Colonel Beverly Robinson, who had been a schoolmate of Wash¬
ington and in whose former house Arnold had his headquarters.
He now appeared in the elaborate garb of a British officer. He
probably expected Arnold to be present. Instead, Smith bore a
letter from Arnold. “This will be delivered to you by Mr. Smith,”
it said, “who will conduct you to a place of safety. Neither Mr.
Smith nor any other person shall be made acquainted with your
proposals. If they are of such a nature that I can officially take
notice of them, I shall do it with pleasure. I take it for granted
that Colonel Robinson will not propose anything that is not for the
welfare of the United States as well as himself.” Robinson dis¬
appeared for twenty minutes, then decided not to make the venture
to Arnold’s presence, though guaranteed full safety. Instead,
Major Andre went. Sir Henry’s last advice had been not to remove
his uniform, not to enter the American lines and not to accept any
writings. Robinson introduced Andre to Smith as “Mr. Ander¬
son.” The two rowed ashore to where Arnold waited in a clump
of firs at the water’s edge at the foot of Long Clove, two miles
below Haverstraw village, where the mountains rise precipitously
from the river. Somewhat disgruntled that Robinson had not
come, Arnold nonetheless received Andre, dismissing Smith, much
to that gentleman’s mortification, to wait with the boatmen until
they returned.

682

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Passing through the American lines, Andre wearing a long
blue coat over his bright uniform, the two men plotted the ruin
of the republican cause. Their plan called for an assault in large
force by the British and weak resistance from the garrison. At
West Point there were five forts and nine redoubts, as well as a
number of batteries, with one hundred guns and three thousand
troops. Arnold agreed to send the principal troops to distant
points under a pretense of defending the approaches. The forts
would then be without sufficient men to hold them. Arnold and
Andre found Smith not yet home, Mrs. Smith out, and none but
the servants present. As Smith’s boat entered the creeks, the
boom of a heavy gun came across the water. Colonel Livingston,
of Verplanck’s Point, irritated by the boldness of the “Vulture,”
had determined to drive her away. He had drawn a field piece to
the head of Croton Point and fired. Daylight was breaking, and
Andre saw his ship passing down the river. Captain Sutherland
did not desert him, however, but brought the ‘‘Vulture” back in a
few hours. Smith returned and entertained his two guests at
breakfast, but declined to accompany Andre back to the ship
because he felt ill. He vaguely promised to accompany Andre later
part way to New York.

At Arnold’s advice, Andre changed his military coat for civilian
garb, and a little before sunset, September 22, accompanied by
Smith and a Negro servant, rode to King’s Ferry, at Stony Point,
and embarked for the opposite shore. Reaching Verplanck’s Point,
they rode to the vicinity of Crom Pond, where they slept in the
house of Andreas Miller. On the twenty-third they proceeded to
within two and one-half miles of Pine’s Ridge, where Smith took
leave of Andre and returned. Andre was close to the British lines
when stopped by three patriots — John Paulding, Isaac Van Wart
and David Williams. Had he at once shown them his passport
from General Arnold, he would have gone free. He was deceived,
however, by a red coat worn by one of the men, and, revealing his
British identity, was searched and exposed as a spy. In his boots
were found papers that Arnold had prevailed upon him to take to
Sir Henry. He would likely have been released had not these
papers been found on him.

Joshua Hett Smith was then arrested at Fishkill and conducted
next day to Washington’s presence. Both Smith and Andre were

ROCKLAND COUNTY

683

taken to West Point. Arnold escaped to the “Vulture,” leaving- his
wife in a swoon at Beverly House, and was already safe in New
York. Afterward he became a British brigadier general and was
employed in a Virginia expedition in which Richmond was burned,
as well as in an attack on New London, Connecticut, in September,
1781. In December of that year he removed to London, England,
where his fortunes were kaleidoscopic thereafter. He helped the
British fight the Napoleonic wars, and finally died June 14, 1801,
in London.

From West Point, Smith and Andre were taken to General
Greene’s headquarters at Tappan. Andre was confined in a room
in Mabie’s Tavern. Washington followed to Tappan, made the
residence of John De Wint his headquarters, and immediately
ordered a court of inquiry. The trial of Andre began September
29, 1780, in the old Dutch Church at Tappan, then the only place
suitable for such proceedings, since the courthouse had been burned
some time previous. The board of officers was composed of Major
Generals Greene, Sterling St. Clair, Lafayette, Howe and Steuben
and Brigadier Generals Parsons, James Clinton, Knox, Glober,
Paterson, Hand, Huntington and Stark, assisted by Judge Advo¬
cate Laurence. Andre’s deportment throughout the trial was dig¬
nified and respectful. He made no effort to defend his conduct.
The American officers were deeply impressed by his bearing, and
made every effort conformable with the laws of war to save him,
but finally decided that he could not but be regarded as a spy, and
ought according to the law and usage of nations to suffer death.
Washington thereupon signed the death warrant. Andre’s feel¬
ings seemed not at all touched by the decision, his chief concern
being that he wished to die the “death of a soldier” — in other
words, to be shot instead of hanged. This wish was not granted.
But at the hanging, which he considered degrading, he stood on his
own coffin while he removed his neckcloth and placed the noose
around his own neck. Only forty years later were his bones
removed from the spot where they had rested in the interim, at the
site of his execution, at the request of members of his family. On
August 15, 1821, a British man-of-war, bearing the Duke of York,
entered the Hudson River on this international mission. Two
cedar trees planted at the foot of his grave at the time of the execu-

684

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

tion, now ten feet high, were taken to England, where they were
made into snuff-boxes and other devices. A peach tree at the head
of the grave, planted by an unknown woman, had sent down its
roots through the wood of the decayed coffin and with them had
completely enveloped Andre's skull. The bones were taken away in
an elegant Egyptian sarcophagus covered with royal purple, and
were interred in Westminster Abbey on November 28, 1821.

When General Lafayette visited the United States in 1824
and went up the Hudson on the steamer “James Kent,” he was
deeply impressed by the memories of these events, as described in
the following words by Thurlow Weed:

“As we sailed up the river Lafayette recognized every

spot which had become familiar to him in the war of the

Revolution. As we approached Tarry town he was very
much moved at the recollection of the fate of Andre, about
which he conversed with great freedom, and with deep emo¬
tion. I can see him now, as he stood on the deck of the
steamer with a group of Revolutionary officers, speaking
of the great events that transpired nearly half a century
before.

“He said that the sympathies of Washington were
greatly excited for the young officer who had fallen into
his hands, and he tried every device to escape the terrible
necessity of his execution. In his eagerness he at first
snatched at the idea of exchanging Andre for Arnold, and
such a proposal was made to Sir Henry Clinton. But a
second thought told him that such a surrender of Arnold
could not be permitted by military honor.

“Even then, although a court martial had unanimously
adjudged Andre a spy, and condemned him to death, Wash¬
ington still shrank from it ; and, said Lafayette, ‘had it not
been for the similar fate, early in the war, of Nathan Hale,
Washington would not have executed Andre.’ This declara¬
tion I heard from Lafayette’s own lips.”

The old grave at Tappan remained open for many years. A
New York merchant then caused an inscription to be placed on a
big boulder there. In September, 1879, ninety-nine years after
Andre’s execution, a monument was completed and placed at the

ROCKLAND COUNTY

685

instance of Cyrus W. Field. The monument was later mutilated
by vandals, and Mr. Field’s motives were even widely regarded
with suspicion in the press.

The last campaign of the Revolutionary War occurred in 1781,
when a move was made toward New York City. The French came
from Rhode Island toward Westchester County, starting June 18,
and Washington left New Windsor on the twenty-sixth, crossing
the Hudson with the American divisions. A junction of the two
armies was effected, the left of the French line being at White
Plains and the American right on the Tappan Zee, at Dobbs Ferry.
For two months the two armies waited for the French fleet, with¬
out which they did not wish to attack. When it was known that
De Grasse had entered the Chesapeake, Washington and Rocham-
beau suddenly changed their plans and resolved on a quick march
to Virginia. On August 19 they began marching, part of the
Americans crossing at Sneden’s Landing and the remainder at
King’s Ferry. The French took a circuitous route to Verplanck’s
Point, arriving on the twenty-second. Rochambeau wished to see
West Point when he was for the first time so near it, and he and
Washington spent the twenty-third there. At Haverstraw the
French soldiers halted near the residence of Joshua Hett Smith.
Washington left three thousand militiamen under Heath to defend
the Highlands. The American force which went on to Virginia
numbered three thousand in the first division, and it was followed
by two others. The first bivouac after Haverstraw was at Suffern,
the next at Pompton. Cornwallis surrendered October 19, 1781,
after Orange County troops had taken part in the campaign
against him. The main French army wintered at Williamsburg,
Virginia. Washington sent the Virginia Militia south, and dis¬
patched Maryland and Pennsylvania troops under Lafayette to
reinforce Greene’s army. Washington himself came back toward
the Hudson. The war was practically at an end. The French
recrossed the Hudson at King’s Ferry on September 14, 1782.

During the war two militia regiments were raised in what is
now Rockland County. One of these was Colonel A. Hawks
Hay’s, with headquarters at Haverstraw. The other was Colonel
Abraham Lent’s, at Tappan. From these were drawn minute men
and the companies for the Continental Line. Rockland’s part in
the winning of independence was thus a highly important one.

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CHAPTER V

Formative Days of the Republic

CHAPTER V

Formative Days of the Republic

Until March 7, 1788, the precincts of Orangetown, Haver-
straw, Goshen and Cornwall constituted the political divisions of
Orange County. On that date, “an act for dividing the counties
of this state into towns” changed precinct names into town names
in these four instances. At the same time the towns of Warwick
and Minisink were set apart from Goshen. In 1791 two more x
towns were erected, Clarkstown and Ramapo, from territory that
had previously been embraced in Haverstraw precinct. On March
18, that year, Clarkstown, occupying the east central part of the
county, fronting the river, was created. It is made up in part of
hilly land and in part of swampy acreage where small streamlets
and other waters later empty into the Hackensack. When the
town of Ramapo, to the west of Clarkstown, was originally cut off
from Haverstraw, on March 18, 1791, it was called New Hemp¬
stead. On March 3, 1797, the name was changed to Hempstead.

It was not finally until April 17, 1829, that it was given the name
of Ramapo. The name of Hempstead was found confusing because
of the existence of Hempstead, Long Island. But no objection to
the name of Ramapo was ever voiced.

The fifth town, that of Stony Point, at the northernmost tip
of Rockland County, was not separated from Haverstraw until a
long time later. It was in the years prior to 1865 that the “Creek
Nation,” as those inhabitants of the Cedar Pond Creek area west
of the present village of Stony Point were called, became very dis¬
gruntled over their relations with the rest of Haverstraw. The
division of public offices was a matter of vital concern here, and
encounters took place in the form of both words and blows. Finally,
on March 20, 1865, the Legislature adopted a measure setting off

690

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Stony Point from Haverstraw and incorporating it as a distinct
governmental unit. Thus one more town was born out of Haver¬
straw, the mother of all Rockland County towns except Orange-
town, which was herself the mother of all Haverstraw.

Thus the five towns making up Rockland County — Orange-
town, Haverstraw, Clarkstown, Ramapo and Stony Point — were
created. The county itself, in its present shape, was taken from
Orange County, as already noted, in 1798. One matter of diffi¬
culty in this tier of counties was always the range of mountains
extending across them. For this reason Orange had long to oper¬
ate through two separate county seats. Ulster encountered similar
difficulty. There were many suggestions that northern Orange
be joined with southern Ulster in such a way that a courthouse at
Newburgh would serve all alike.

After much discussion, “an act for dividing the County of
Orange” was adopted February 23, 1798, providing that “all that
tract of land in the County of Orange, lying northwest of a line begin¬
ning at the mouth of Poplopen’s Kill, on Hudson’s river, and run¬
ning thence to the southeasternmost corner of the farm of Stephen
Sloat, and thence along the south bounds of his farm to the south¬
west corner thereof, and thence on the same course to the bounds
of the State of New Jersey, shall be and hereby is erected into a
separate county, and shall be called and known by the name of
Orange”; and that “all that part of the said county of Orange
lying southward of the above described line shall be erected into a
separate county, and shall be called and known by the name of Rock¬
land.” Great disappointment spread through southern Orange
when the Act did not retain the name of Orange for this region, as
many thought it should ; but when they became accustomed to the
change, the people were generally satisfied with the new name of
“Rockland,” derived from the character of much of the country¬
side. Rockland was New York State’s twenty- fifth county. A
second bill, passed April 5, that year, annexed the towns of New
Windsor, Newburgh, Wallkill, Montgomery and Deerpark, previ¬
ously in Ulster, to Orange County.

The Revolution ended and boundary lines set up in a durable
pattern, Rockland was now free to develop itself in the paths of
peace. The forms that were shaped in the course of life-and-death

ROCKLAND COUNTY

691

struggle, first between the European settlers and the native Ameri¬
can Indians, then between the loyalists and those who gave their
life-blood to bring independence from England — the forms so
shaped were the forms in which future activities could develop.

A symbol of such forms is to be found in the system of roads
that links together the different communities within this county
and joins the county with the world beyond its borders. The
earliest arteries of travel followed the natural developments of
neighborhood growth rather than any planned arrangement.
Paths once used by Indians were used by white settlers when the

The DeWindt House in Tappan

Europeans came. Then, as the urgency of business and trade
became pronounced, what were once woodland paths made way for
wider thoroughfares. By the time of the Revolution some of these
wider thoroughfares, already well defined, were beaten into still
firmer highways as great processions of soldiers and loads of
ammunition and supplies were hauled over them. Through the
days of horseback riding, stagecoach, horse and buggy, bicycle and
automobile, much the same system of roads was maintained, with
a few additions now and then, and, in more recent years, the pour¬
ing of asphalt or cement.

Some of the busy modern motor routes, such as Route 17, are

among the very oldest roads in America. Route 17, passing

692

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

through Suffern, Hillburn, Ramapo, Sterlington and Sloatsburg,
at Rockland County's western edge, and thence into Orange
County, is one of the oldest post roads in all New York State, and
was known as the Orange Turnpike. It was a link in the Albany
Road in earlier times, and was much used when the Hudson River
was closed to navigation. In 1800 it was built and maintained as
a toll road under the direction of the Orange Turnpike Company,
remaining under their operation until, in 1869, the company was
ordered to abandon it as a toll road.

Suffern early became a hub for roads leading in five directions.
In 1797 a Suffern resident referred to himself as living “at a
spot which commands a pass from the northern and western parts
of the state and from Vermont to the southern and eastern states.”
Deer-trails and cowpaths sometimes became well-trodden roads
as the settlers made their way to markets and churches. The road
to King’s Ferry, over which tremendous quantities of goods and
ammunition passed in Revolutionary times, has been mentioned.
It was really the county’s first well-defined highway, and extended
from Tappan northward to “Call’s” Dock, just north of Stony
Point, where the King’s Ferry to V erplanck had its western termi¬
nus. At Tappan there entered Rockland, in early times, a road
leading from Paulus’ Hook through the English Neighborhood —
a tortuous thoroughfare lying between the uplands of the Palisades
and the marshes bordering the Hackensack River. It passed into
this county at Tappan and went through Orangeburg. It was
called the Clausland Road. Sweeping along the western base of
the Nyack hills, it went over Casper Hill by the old hotel once kept
by John Storms, entered the present Nyack-Haverstraw Road,
turned back through Doodletown, and passed from what is now
Rockland County at a point near Forts Clinton and Montgomery,
thence continuing to West Point and Albany. It was this road that
came to be known as the King’s Highway and is still so termed.
Travelers making their way to the county seat at Tappan were fre¬
quent users of this road in early times.

Road improvements, under direction from the Provincial Leg¬
islature, began about 1730. Since that time some bill has been

enacted relative to public travel at practically every legislative ses-

sion. Three highway commissioners for each town were provided

ROCKLAND COUNTY

693

by legislative Act as early as 1691, and every male inhabitant was
required to work five days a year on the roads or to furnish such
a worker in his stead. Once each year the old King’s Highway
was repaired, as were its bridges, although the branch roads lead¬
ing into it were not touched. About 1816 the old Nyack Turnpike
was legislated into being. Disputation was rife then between
Nyack and Haverstraw as to whether the road should go from
Suffern to Nyack or from Suffern to Haverstraw. The so-called
Nyack-Suffern Turnpike resulted, and the road then built followed
practically its present course from Suffern to the glen at the pres¬
ent railroad grade crossing in Monsey. There is still a trail where
it detoured from this point to the termination of the Old Nyack
Turnpike at the existing Saddle River Road. The present well-
paved Route 59 is the modern version of the Nyack Turnpike. In
central Nyack there still stands a monument containing the first
milestone of the old Nyack-Suffern Turnpike. In 1871 the Alturas
Company built the connection between Monsey and Spring Valley,
still known as the Alturas Road.

About 1814 a company was chartered to build a road from
Suffern to Haverstraw (then known as Waynesburg), but this
company never accomplished anything. A road was none the less
built, piece by piece, although the modern route (202) between
these two places does not follow it. Many swamps and obstacles
had to be by-passed to make that road possible, but the highway had
to come into being so that bricks from Haverstraw could be taken
to Suffern and wood from the mountains to the Haverstraw brick
kilns.

A fine network of modern roads covers Rockland today. Route
17 has been mentioned. It intersects the western tip of the county.
Route 59 passes from Suffern through Spring Valley to Nyack
and the river. Route 202 connects Suffern with Haverstraw by
way of Ladentown and Mount Ivy. Crossing it is Route 306,
which enters the county from New Jersey and goes northward,
crossing Route 59 near Monsey and crossing Route 202 near
Ladentown, then turning eastward near Willow Grove and ending
at Route 9W, the long highway that extends along the Palisades
to Albany. Route 9W follows the entire eastern edge of Rock¬
land. Near it, at the northern tip of the county, is the George Per-

694

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

kins Memorial Drive, dedicated in 1934, extending over the top
of Bear Mountain and down the other side into Orange County.
It commands a view unsurpassed in point of both beauty and his¬
toric interest.

It is difficult for present-day man, surrounded with a ramified
system of modern conveniences, capable of spanning the widest
oceans in a few brief hours, to visualize the era when much travel
was by foot and horseback. During the Revolution, for instance,
the ordinary farm wagon had not yet attained its later fine quality
and efficiency. It was an ordinary feat to walk from Rockland
County to New Yrork or to ride horseback over this distance. The
stagecoach was a later conveyance, though it was at first consid¬
ered a mode of travel for women and gentle folk. Even so, it was
not without its hardships and dangers. . For one thing, stage driv¬
ers used to be fond of racing one another, jealously guarding first
place on the road, often to the severe discomfort of passengers and
occasionally to the point of real danger. The roughness of the
roads caused considerable swaying from side to side and once in a
while an upset. In Rockland stage travel was lighter in summer
than in winter, because then the travelers could use boats. In win¬
ter the stages now and then used the ice-bound surface of the
Hudson. The coach that traveled the Orange Turnpike route
usually proceeded to Newburgh before venturing upon the ice. The
stage bodies, in this case, were placed on runners, and tavern shan¬
ties and relay stations were erected along the river banks.

Railroads early made their appearance. The Hudson River
Railroad early made the Stony Point area less isolated. Later,
the New York & Erie Railroad, which obtained its charter in 1832
and began building in 1836, started operating from the landing
at Piermont to Spring Valley about 1841, there entering the town
of Ramapo and proceeding to Suffern and then to Goshen. At one
time the western terminus was Otisville, beyond Middletown. The
line from Jersey City was called the Paterson and Ramapo Line.
It stopped at the State line in Suffern, from which point it was
connected to the Erie Railroad by the Union Railroad, which ran
about eight-tenths of a mile in length. Such was the condition in
1848. In 1852 the Erie leased all its lines and combined them into
parts of its present system. The building and opening of the

ROCKLAND COUNTY

695

Nyack & Northern Railroad, in 1870, brought to Nyack the first
business “boom” in its history. In 1873, the New Jersey & New
York Railroad was constructed between Hackensack and Hills¬
dale. Subsequently it was extended to Nanuet, where it met the
Piermont branch. From Spring Valley it proceeded northward to
West Haverstraw. The opening of the West Shore Railroad, in
1883, marked a step toward business advancement for the Haver¬
straw villages. The Sterling Mountain Railroad was built from
Sterlington to the mines about 1865 for the specific purpose of
transporting pig iron and ore to the main line of the Erie. Before
1841 all transportation was by draft animals and wooden wagons,
mostly springless. Many other efforts were made up to the eighties
to establish railroads west of the Hudson. Plans for some of these
are on file in New City. The gap between Piermont and Jersey
City along the river was filled by the opening of the Northern Rail¬
road of New Jersey, whose story is told in an interesting 1861
“Pocket Guide Book” of the road, written by William Burtis Corn¬
ing, father of the Rev. A. Elwood Corning. The title page describes
it as “A collection of interesting facts of historical associations,
and containing a brief description of the construction of the road,
its opening celebration and the respective stations, the scenery and
the various objects of attraction and their noted events.”

The years following the Revolution were not all years of peace,
however. The second war with Great Britain took further toll of
local men and forces. At the outbreak of the War of 1812 two
branches of the military existed in the United States — the light-
horse and the militia. A third was then organized — the artillery.
When the call for troops came, permission was given the command¬
ing officers in the different counties to use their judgment in draft¬
ing men from the county militia. General Peter Van Orden, of
Rockland, declined this permission, and said that all his men could
go. Every able-bodied man in the county, not a member of the
light-horse, was ordered into the armed forces at that time, all
embarking from Tappan Slote. The militia went to Harlem
Heights, where they remained in camp for a time. When the
summer harvests began to suffer, appeals were made to General
Van Orden to grant furloughs to his men so that they might come
home and harvest their crops. He refused all appeals, whereupon

6g6

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

a company or two marched home on their own, got in their grain,
then marched back to camp. They were punished by being given
extra duty, with long marches. News of the “desertion” reached
the government, which, however, upon learning the cause of the
defection, ordered a leave-of-absence for all Rockland Militia on
condition that, if called, they would rush back to camp. They were
never recalled. An artillery company of thirty or forty men was
organized at Nyack and placed under command of Major Harmon
Tallman. With its one brass six-pounder, this company was taken
also to Harlem Heights. Quarrymen were needed, however, if
stone for the forts was to be dug ; so these men had soon to be given
leaves-of-absence to work the quarries. They also promised to
return to service if needed, but were never called. Seven light-
horsemen were drafted at Nyack. Five were immediately dis¬
qualified. The remaining two, Isaac Lydecker and James De
Clark, joined seventy or eighty others at Fort Montgomery, passed
through a general review, then were dismissed and never recalled.
So, although Rockland gave more men to the service in the War of
1812 than did any other county in the State, and even more than
she gave during the Civil War, none of them ever saw active duty
at the front.

Hardly was one war well ended than another was brewing.
And, somehow, Rockland County came in for her share of activity
in all. Negro slavery, which figured so strongly in the advent of
the Civil War, is ordinarily thought of as a special condition of the
Southern States. Yet Rockland was a scene of slavery as early
as the days of the Tappan Patent. Slaves were never numerous
and the custom was not popular. Certain laws tended to destroy
slavery, among them measures adopted by the Legislature during
the Revolution to the effect that all slaves who enlisted in the army
with the consent of their owners should go free. A measure enacted
in 1798 provided for their gradual emancipation. And an Act of
March 31, 1817, declared that all slaves born after July 4, 1799,
should be free, males at the age of twenty-eight and females at
twenty-five, while all slaves born before 1799 should remain slaves
for life. The Abolition Act of 1828, ridding the State wholly of
slavery as an institution, was greeted with greater joy by many
white residents than by the slaves themselves. Slaves had their
own section in old Tappan Church and in local graveyards, and it

ROCKLAND COUNTY 697

was generally assumed that they would not be able to take care of
themselves if freed.

For some strange reason, Rockland numbered among her resi¬
dents certain sympathizers with the institution of slavery, and
these came into conflict on occasion with the county’s few “Under¬
ground Railroad” centers in the period leading up to the Civil War.
The county was, to be sure, off the general route of the “Under¬
ground Railroad,” yet the west bank of the Hudson provided a
possible means of escape for fugitive Negroes from the South and
was occasionally used as such. Nyack was one such center — in
fact, the first station north of Jersey City and the first one south of
Newburgh. The Nyack “Underground Railroad” station was in
charge of Edward Hesdra, who lived on the south side of the turn¬
pike, almost opposite the reservoir (belonging then to the Odell
family and furnishing the first water used by the village). The
Hesdra estate, embracing the land around the reservoir, was on
Main Street, east of Highland Avenue. The entire “Underground”
escape system was so planned that only a handful of leaders knew
its complete workings. The Jersey City agent knew Hesdra’s
place, and Hesdra knew the Newburgh agent. Rarely did a local
agent know by name another agent more than one station to
the south of his own. After nightfall an escaping slave would
start from Jersey City with instructions how to travel and a com¬
plete description of Hesdra’s house. Before daybreak he would
reach Nyack, see Hesdra, then disappear. He was rested, fed and
(if necessary) reclothed, then started out again at nightfall and
was hidden in Newburgh by daybreak. So he made his way to
the Canadian border and across. Strangely enough, the Negroes
seldom erred in their directions. A very active “Underground”
worker was John W. Towt, who worked mostly in New York with
leading abolitionists, Arthur and Lewis Tappan, in support of the
abolition movement. He was deeply interested in the Negro race,
and his contribution is commemorated today in a tablet in the
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. After he came to
Nyack, he helped at least one fugitive on the path to freedom.
That such secrecy was required in so humane an enterprise may
seem strange, yet it was necessary if the activities of certain slavery
sympathizers were to be circumvented.

CHAPTER VI

Civil War Days

CHAPTER VI

Civil War Days

Finally, in 1861, the Nation was torn by civil war. Once more
Rockland County furnished volunteers for every department of the
service and for a large number of non-military organizations doing
war work. No regiment was ever formally organized as a special
county unit, however, and none even had a majority of members
recruited here. The 6th Regiment of Heavy Artillery had about
sixty Rockland County men as members, but was formed in Yon¬
kers, in nearby Westchester County, not in Rockland. Originally
it was#called the 135th New York Volunteer Infantry, and it was
mustered into service of the Union on September 2, 1862, to serve
three years. In October it was changed to an artillery unit and
was augmented by two new companies, which were mustered into
service between December 4 and 19. The entire regiment was
raised in Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties together,
the Eighth Senatorial District. On June 25, 1865, the original
members were mustered out, and those remaining were formed
into a battalion of four companies. The remaining members of the
10th and 13th Regiments of Artillery were transferred to the 3d
Battalion on June 27, 1865.

The 91st Infantry Regiment numbered among its ranks more
than two hundred Rockland men, about three-fourths of them
from Haverstraw. It was organized in New York City for a
three-year term, and was mustered into the United States service
between November, 1861, and March, 1862. When its term was
finished, the original members, with the exception of veterans,
were mustered out; then the organization, composed of veterans
and recruits, remained in service until July 16, 1865. It partici¬
pated in actions at Gainesville, Second Bull Run, South Mountain,

702

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine
Run, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Tolpotomy, Bethesda
Church, Petersburg, Weddon Railroad, Chapel House and Hatch¬
er’s Run.

The 124th Infantry Regiment also had on its roll a number of
Rockland men. Organized at Goshen for a three-year term, it was
raised mostly in Orange County and was mustered into service
September 5, 1862. It was mustered out June 3, 1865. This regi¬
ment took part in battles at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Get¬
tysburg, Kelly’s Ford, Mine Run, Wilderness, Po River, Spotsyl¬
vania, North Anna, Tolpotomy, Coal Harbor, Petersburg, Straw¬
berry Plains and Boydtown Road.

Another regiment, the 127th, had about forty Rockland men
in it. It was raised and organized in New York City, also for a
three-year term, and was mustered into service September 8, 1862,
serving until June 30, 1865, when it was mustered out.

Considering Rockland’s unceasing worries in Revolutionary
times, perhaps it was just as well that the county was so little
molested by the Civil War except for the personal sacrifices made
by numbers of young men called off to battle. Pursuing at home
the arts of peace, Rockland was able to grow and develop through
the years prior to the Civil War and following that conflagration,
and during this period cultural activities and industries grew,
homes were built, trade relationships with the outside world were
improved and increased, and individual citizens came to the fore
on the basis of personal achievement.

As the professions took on a more modern shape, Rockland
women stepped now and then out of the home, woman’s erstwhile
domain, and onto the stage of public life. The county, of course,
today numbers among its professional people a sizable number of
women, including many physicians ; and the unthinking individual
of the present time has to remind himself that time was when the
county boasted but one woman physician, the pioneer of her sex in
the medical profession. She was Dr. Gertrude Hammond Harper,
of Spring Valley. Her husband, Gerard Beekman Hammond,
was also a physician, and her entry into the profession sprang from
a chance remark from his lips to the effect that he wished there
were some woman in the community who would be capable of min¬
istering to the medical needs of women.

RUCKLAND COUNTY

703

A woman of fine spirits, of Bavarian birth, educated in Vienna,
she had become interested in the struggle for political liberty while
living in that sparklingly brilliant European capital, and had, as
a result, engaged in political life in a way that embroiled her in
difficulties in her Austrian homeland. Adventurous and deter¬
mined, she sometimes dressed as a boy and carried dispatches from
one political leader to another. It became known that she received
and liked the liberal paper known as “The Wasp.” In time she was
forced to flee Austria, and it was aboard the “Lady Franklin,”
while crossing the ocean, in 1853, that she met Dr. Hammond.
They were married soon after arriving in America, and they chose
Rockland County as their home. It was but natural that a woman
of her spirited temperament should be profoundly challenged by
her husband’s casual expression that he wished there were a woman
physician to care for women patients.

“Why should it not be so?” she asked. “Why should women
not become qualified as well as men? Women have brains as well
as men, and why should they not use them? I will use mine.”

She began poring over ponderous medical tomes with the help
of her husband. Her first cases were those to which she responded
in emergencies at times when her husband was out answering other
calls. She would leave a note telling him to hurry to the place of
need, then would herself set out to help the afflicted woman. In this
way patients began to learn the value of her ministrations and to
seek them. As she became acquainted with the mysteries of obstet¬
rics, she presided at the births of many babies, helping nearly
three thousand into the world in her whole career. Her husband
was a volunteer surgeon in the Civil War, and before many months
she was at his side, helping wounded and sick soldiers before she
was yet a physician in her own right. For two years she dressed
wounds, administered cooling draughts, wrote letters at soldiers’
bedsides. Their health broken, both she and her husband returned
northward after the Civil War. As her condition improved, she
studied medicine at the New York Medical College and Hospital
for Women, which had just been founded. She was the only grad¬
uate of the class of 1866. To swell the number of graduates in the
ensuing year, she was asked to wait until then for her formal
graduation, which took place in 1867 in Steinway Hall, New York

704

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

City. Later she became instrumental in promoting the admission
of women students to clinics, battling tremendous opposition to
achieve this end. She also took part extensively in the life of the
community and its organizations, many of which she aided in their
work. One of her characteristic achievements was the arrange¬
ment of a benefit concert on behalf of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
She was also active in literary and cultural affairs, and gave
lectures.

Another active woman of her day, though operating in a dif¬
ferent sphere, was Ellen Peck, of Sparkill. Demure and blue-eyed,
she was estimated by the New York Police Department to have
netted at least $1,000,000 through her manifold swindling opera¬
tions. In the period when she carried on most of this work she
lived in the best hotels. Then she settled in a comfortable home in
Sparkill. Her husband, a blind inventor, never lost faith in her
during their seventy-five years of married life. Detectives knew
her as the “woman in black” and her victims simply remembered
her, with cynicism, as a “sweet old lady.” She selected always as
her victims men of means and influence, and was once accused of
swindling Jay Gould, though she was never indicted for the
alleged offense because of lack of evidence. On several occasions,
before she herself was suspected of these activities, Mrs. Peck
aided the police in capturing other criminals, once receiving a
reward of several thousand dollars for capturing a robber who had
drawn a gun against her. Like many a person of her own and
other professions, she passed her later years in obscurity, and she
might have been wholly forgotten had she not entered Nyack Hos¬
pital at the age of ninety-five years to undergo an operation. Her
identity was then discovered by reporters.

Other women of Rockland were among the people of achieve¬
ment here. Kate Savery, a Negress, has done remarkable work as
principal of the Brook-Hillburn School. A fine teacher and a
woman of influence, she took part, with her niece, Frances Gun¬
ner, in ceremonies connected with the dedication of the new $200,-
000 Savery Library at Talladega College, Talladega, Alabama,
named after William Savery, her father, who as a slave helped
with the carpentry on Swayne Hall, the original college building.
Mrs. Fannie Avery Batson, also of the Negro race, was a teacher

ROCKLAND COUNTY

705

and civic leader. A Negro, William Smith, led the choir at Hamp¬
ton Institute, Virginia, and afterward was a pupil at the Juilliard
School of Music, New York City. His deep and fine bass voice
took him on tour with the Eva Jessye Choir as far westward as
British Columbia. Both he and Mrs. Batson were born in Nyack
and were graduates of Nyack High School.

CHAPTER VII

Industrial Development

—

.. : :

■n

CHAPTER VII

Industrial Development

From a farm-based economy in pioneer times, Rockland County
has grown along industrial lines with the passing of the years. In
the pre-Revolutionary period a common-sense view of things indi¬
cated the benefits of home manufacturing. The farmer himself
made, as much as possible, the materials that he needed ; and where
he left off, the blacksmith and wagonmaker, sawmill and gristmill
took hold. Links gradually formed themselves with international
trade. The blacksmith of those times made not only horses’ shoes,
but iron for wagons and farm implements, while the farmer’s wife
produced yarn for stockings and mittens and flannel for under¬
wear. Some homes had looms for weaving coarse cloth, and chil¬
dren early learned to spin and card wool. Itinerant weavers,
expert in their line, were now and then hired to operate the loom.
Later special mills rose up to card the wool into rolls and also to
color, full and dress the cloth.

The chief wealth that nature bestowed comprised horses, cat¬
tle, sheep, fowls, lumber, grain, hay, wool, furs, hides, pork, bacon,
lard and beef. Some of these products were exchanged for sugar,
molasses, tea, coffee and general supplies at the store, and some
were exchanged for money on shipment to New York. The King’s
Highway provided a means of travel for those who wished to ride.
It developed from an old Indian trail to a settlers’ path, and after
a time became a passable road for horsemen. It connected the set¬
tlements along the west bank of the Hudson River, and was a
product of Indian “engineering” long antedating the advent of the
Europeans. This highway proceeds from Tappan to Haverstraw,
passes on to Stony Point, and, beyond Rockland’s borders, makes
its way to Albany. With the growth of the settlements in the
“back country,” other thoroughfares grew up, notably the Ramapo

7io

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Clove Road, which was a natural highway leading to Goshen. It
became ever more traveled. Those persons who did not wish to
ride had easy access to New York by way of the river. Haver-
straw, Nyack and Tappan had early landing-places for sloops, with
roads leading to them. The river shore at Haverstraw was par¬
ticularly beautiful in Colonial times.

By the time of Rockland’s separation from Orange County, in
1798, the Pierson Iron Works had been established — the organi-

Main Street, Nyack, About 1900

zation out of which the Ramapo Foundry & Wheel Works, at
Ramapo, developed.

Natural resources, such as, for instance, abundant supplies of
traprock, furnished the basis for other industries. The quarries
opened by Daniel Tomkins at Tomkins Cove in 1838 became in
later years the New York Trap Rock Corporation. The West
Nyack Trap Rock Company, Inc., of West Nyack, and the Suf-
fern Stone Company, of Suffern, are other industries exemplifying
the uses made of the great accumulations of stone deposited here
by nature in the course of past ages of geologic history. As early

ROCKLAND COUNTY

7 ii

as 1815 James Wood started the first successful brickyard within
the county’s confines.

By 1829 the county was dotted with iron works, tanneries, cot¬
ton and woolen factories, gristmills and sawmills. There were
small iron mines in the northern part. Quarrying was an exten¬
sive industry. Keel boats and center-board boats were built in the
shipyards at Nyack, and shipbuilding was for many decades a lead¬
ing industry here. In 1826, only twenty years after the historic
trial of the “Clermont,” the steamboat “Orange” was built in
Nyack and placed in service in competition with the old broad-
beamed sloops on the run to New York with passengers and freight,
mostly farm produce. Many later river steamers had their origin
in Nyack shipyards. When boat racing came to the fore, three
America’s Cup defenders — the “Grade,” the “Vision” and the
“Madeline” — were built in Nyack yards. Fine yachts are still
being made in the successors to these early yards. In the thirties
of the nineteenth century other industries sprang up, and by the
middle of the century there were well-developed textile, textile
machinery, shoe, ice production and other enterprises spread
throughout the county. So has Rockland’s industrial life taken
shape in the midst of what was once primarily an agricultural
economy. Industries centered here now ship their output to all
parts of the earth. As we approach the mid-point of the twentieth
century, many residents within Rockland’s borders commute to
work in New York. But at least seventy-five per cent, of residents
who are gainfully employed have their employment in the county
itself, most of them in manufacturing and mechanical industries.

Farming

Clarkstown, comprising the area north of Orangetown and
Nyack and extending northward to Haverstraw and westward to
Spring Valley and the town of Ramapo, early became a rich agri¬
cultural district. Orangetown, at the county’s southern tip, also
had many prosperous farms. In recent years, however, even nota¬
bly since 1920, the number of farms and the extent of farm acreage
have considerably decreased. In the place of general farming have
arisen all sorts of specialties, such as fruit raising, commercial
market gardening, poultry keeping, dairying and floriculture.

712

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

One of the earliest agricultural specialties developed within the
county’s borders was, of course, the grape culture of Iona Island,
in the Hudson, a little south of Bear Mountain. At one time a
secluded estate, this whole island, now a Federal arsenal, was
famous for its luscious grapes, a special variety cultivated in its
few acres. One of the most unusual farms in the county is what is
known as Rockland Farms, in New City, started in 1921, and
owned by Harry G. Herrlein, where rabbits, guinea pigs, rats
and mice are raised for medical research. The annual output is
five hundred thousand mice, thirty thousand rabbits, thirty thou¬
sand guinea pigs and thirty thousand rats. Shipments of these
have been made to all parts of the world. Specially planned food
is prepared for these animals, and some of the food is shipped to
Puerto Rico for use on the famous Monkey Island, to enrich the
diet of monkeys. The Carworth Farms, Inc., at New City, also
breed animals for scientific purposes. The Pesner Mink Farm, in
Clarkstown, is a widely known fur farm. The county boasts some
fine apple orchards. The Threefold Farm, in Hungry Hollow
Road, south of Spring Valley, has introduced in this area what is
known as biodynamic farming, originated in Switzerland in con¬
nection with the Anthroposophy of Rudolph Steiner. This method
aims to utilize the provisions of nature in such a way that the
departments of the farm and the elements of farming activity
mutually support and complement one another, while what are
regarded as harmful mineral fertilizers are replaced by natural
soil-strengtheners yielded by the farm itself in the course of a
year’s cycle of growth. The county also abounds in a large num¬
ber of general farms.

Quarrying

Almost every natural substance is, in its proper place, a thing
of value. So Rockland County’s tremendous abundance of rocks
and stones, so bothersome to the farmer trying to plow his land in
spring, becomes a valuable resource in the hands of the quarrier.
The geological happenings underlying this condition long ago made
Rockland one of the few places where sandstone was found with
free rock, a fact which explains the origin of some of the principal
industries here.

ROCKLAND COUNTY

7i3

Between 1780 and 1838, when the freestone — red and gray
sandstone — industry at Nyack was at its height, thirty-one quar¬
ries were in operation between Grand View and Upper Nyack, pro¬
viding employment to several hundred men. Many docks projected
along the riverfront, and often ten or twelve vessels per day, all
loaded with stone, left these docks. As. early as 1735 Rockland
sandstone was in demand in New York City, and in the following
century or more it was used for building, for trimming houses, for
door and window lintels and for steps. Many New York and
Rockland homes were built from this stone. Such structures are
to be found through present-day Rockland. In 1736 Garret and
Abraham Onderdonk opened one of the county’s first quarries,
between Sparkill and Grand View. The De Pew family owned the
largest quarry in the Nyack area. The pit on the estate of Arthur
S. Tompkins was worked not so long ago, and a quarry on the
Roberts property in Upper Nyack was a large source of sandstone.
Early forts in New York Harbor, among them Castle Williams,
on Governor’s Island, after which the old Aquarium at the Bat¬
tery was modeled, used this stone. Samuel Verbryck, pastor of
the Tappan Reformed Church in Revolutionary times, later the
founder of Rutgers College, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, sent
back to Rockland County for stone for the first building at Rut¬
gers. Rockland stone also went into the old capitol at Albany,
built in 1807, and the north wall of New York City Hall. As
early as 1788 quarries were also in operation near New City, which
provided part of the stone for old Trinity Church, New York,
and the Church of the Holy Trinity, in Brooklyn. Gravestones,
railway bridges and private residences absorbed still more of Rock¬
land’s stone.

A better quality of freestone was produced, as it seemed, in
Belleville, New Jersey, and elsewhere, with the result that that
industry ceased in Nyack by 1842. Crushed stone still comprised
an important industry, however. The traprock industry dates back
to 1804, when it furnished the stone for New York’s earliest docks.
The seawall at Governor’s Island was later constructed from this
stone. Much of the seawall of the New York Central Railroad
came from stone from this county. The quarries in Clarkstown
furnished stone for the West Shore Railroad in that area. In

7l4

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

1889 the Mack Paving Company established a stone-crushing plant
at Upper Nyack, where such a plant might still exist had not Hook
Mountain Park been set up by the Palis'ades Interstate Park Com¬
mission. Traprock was also used for highway construction and
other purposes, being produced early in the present century by the
Belmont-Gurnee Company. Later William Dahm took over the
quarries and founded the West Nyack Trap Rock Company, which
was continued by his sons, J. Herbert Dahm and G. Walter Dahm
and flourishes at the time of writing. The Suffern Stone Com¬
pany, once a property of the Belmont-Gurnee Company, but later
taken over by John F. and Joseph Murphy, of Jersey City, has dis¬
tributed traprock to all parts of Rockland County, notably for road
work, concrete mixing and the like, as well as to railroads for use
as rock ballast. The company has headquarters on a cliff in Suf¬
fern. The Clinton Asphalt Company is an associated enterprise,
which specializes in mixing asphalt and conveying it hot to distant
places. The largest of the traprock companies is the New York
Trap Rock Corporation, of Tomkins Cove and ITaverstraw, in
this county. It employs 134 people (1940), and produces nearly
one million tons of stone yearly at its Haverstraw plant alone. It
supplied stone for use in building New York’s West Side Parkway,
shipping its products in its own boats, of which it has a fleet of 150.
Some of its stone goes to Atlantic seaboard cities as far south as
Florida.

Limestone is quarried at the Tomkins Cove plant of the New
York Trap Rock Company. It was originally burned to be used
as fertilizer, and it was to develop a fertilizer industry that Daniel
Tomkins, in 1837, bought about twenty acres from John Crom,
who, beginning in 1789, had operated a small kiln in the cliffs along
the river. In 1838, the summer after the purchase, Mr. Tomkins
set sail for Tomkins Cove from Newark, New Jersey, aboard the
sloop “Contrivance/’ with a party of sixteen workmen, a woman,
a horse and a cow. Quarrying began immediately, and has con¬
tinued since, except for slack periods.

The value of products mined in 1935, all non-metallic, in Rock¬
land’s seven mines, according to Federal census figures, was $823,-
618, or $3,520 per wage-earner.

ROCKLAND COUNTY

7i5

Brickmaking

Brickmaking formerly constituted an important industry.
Back in 1830 such an industry was started at Caldwell’s Landing,
since renamed Jones Point. Bricks from that source went into the
construction of one of the roads in Central Park. Afterward
freighters from Trinidad brought crude asphalt from there to be
refined, whereupon the finished product was widely distributed.
A cement manufacturing plant was operated at the same time at
Jones Point. Haverstraw was at one time a great brickmaking
center, and the riverfront between Haverstraw and Grassy Point
was dotted with brickyards. At the turn of the century thirty-
eight yards were producing three hundred twenty-six million
bricks per year. Only one of these remains today, that of the
Rockland Brick Company, of Haverstraw, producing at the old
De Noyelles yard as many as twenty-seven million bricks annually.
John de Noyelles is proprietor, and the company employs sixty-five
men. For years Haverstraw was cut and slashed in the quest of
clay for brickmaking, and gaping holes, sometimes filled with
water, still attest the activities of that earlier day. The first
Haverstraw brickmaker was Jacob Van Dyke, who began work
in 1771, making* bricks by hand and having his clay tempered by
the walking of his oxen through it. When he and his sons went off
to fight in the Revolutionary War, his business ended. The next
brickmaker was James Wood, an Englishman, who settled in
Haverstraw in 1815; he introduced a mould with a bottom and a
vent, as well as a device for tempering clay that ended the use of
oxen and spading by hand. He also discovered the feasibility of
using coal dust with the clay to produce a better brick. The turn
of the century brought a decline in the industry, chiefly because of
the great gain in concrete construction and the importation of
cheaper bricks from Europe. The Rockland Brick Company alone
continues the work. Excavation of clay for bricks has been blamed
for one of the county’s great disasters, the Haverstraw land¬
slide of January 8, 1906, which took a toll of twenty lives and
much property as the sliding embankment engulfed the entire area
from Liberty to Jefferson streets, destroying homes and the Rock¬
land Street business district. Stoves overturned, fires started, a
strong wind fanned the flames, and only a heavy snow saved half
of Haverstraw from destruction.

7 16

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Iron, Metals and Metal Products

Northern Rockland was once rich in a high grade of iron ore,
as was the entire Highland region, but the mines were eventually
abandoned as the ore itself was exhausted and much greater sup¬
plies in the Lake Superior area were made accessible by changed
methods of transportation. Only a few old mine holes remain to
mark the places where these operations were carried on. Seven
mines were listed in Federal census figures for 1935, all of them
non-metallic.

The largest of the old iron mining properties was the Hasen-
clever Mine, near Cedar Pond (now Lake Tiorati, in the Interstate
Park district), worked as early as 1766. There was a furnace for
melting the ore into pig iron along Cedar Pond Brook. Also, sev¬
eral forges were erected along Florus Falls Creek, where the iron
was hammered into utensils for commercial use. Iron for the
great defensive chain stretched across the river by the colonists as
protection against British ships was forged in this area from ore
extracted from the Hasenclever Mine. Cannonballs also origi¬
nated here. Although Thomas A. Edison, years later, purchased
ore lands around Lake Tiorati, nothing was ever done to develop
the property. There were also other smaller mines, one of which
was the Barnes Mine, operated until the eighties of the last century.

It was not iron ore, but water-power, that brought about estab¬
lishment of Rockland’s first iron works. The rolling mill and nail
factory built along the Ramapo River, at Ramapo, by the Pierson
brothers, about 1798, was producing and marketing one million
pounds of nails annually about 1810 — a triumph of production for
those days, mainly made possible through inventions of machinery
by Josiah G. Pierson. Some of these nails were shipped far away,
notably to West Indies sugar plantations, and iron hoops made at
the same plant were used in binding the old whale-oil casks used
by Newburgh fishermen. The Piersons imported most of their iron
from Sweden, then part of Russia, but also obtained some of it
from Ringwood, New Jersey, and the Sterling Furnace, in Orange
County. In addition to nails and hoops, the Piersons made yarn
and cloth which they exchanged for the European ore, and at one
time produced wooden screws, blister steel and spring steel. It
was partly to connect the Ramapo works with the Hudson that the

ROCKLAND COUNTY

717

Nyack Turnpike was built. Tremendous numbers of people were
employed here when trade was brisk, but a slackening in the 1850s
brought about an almost complete desertion of the village of
Ramapo. ,

The Ramapo Car Works originated in 1864 and the Ramapo
Wheel & Foundry Company in 1866. The old cotton mill of the
Piersons was used for the production of car wheels and brakeshoes,
many of which were sent to Cuba and South America. The
Ramapo Foundry & Wheel Works today occupies the plant,
which is situated on Route 17. It is headed by A. J. Miller, fur¬
nishes employment to more than eighty people, and, when working
at capacity, produces four hundred wheels daily.

Besides the Pierson works, there were other ironmaking cen¬
ters in Ramapo. Abram Dater, after whom Dater’s Crossing was
named, ran six charcoal forges along the Ramapo River, at Sloats-
burg, where pig iron was hammered into form. The Piersons were
his principal customers. Under different hands, these forges were
operated until shortly before the Civil War. More than a third of
the people of Ramapo had their living from employment of the
heads of their families at either Pierson’s or Dater’s. Other iron
works were situated at Hillburn. The present Ramapo Ajax
Works, one of nine plants of the Ramapo Ajax division of the
American Brakeshoe & Foundry Company, occupies a plant erected
by the Ramapo Iron Works in 1881, between the Erie Railroad
and the highway. It is headed by J. B. Spencer, and employs more
than eighty people. Between 1848 and 1872 a forge and later a
rolling mill, founded by James Suffern, were operated at Hillburn.
Car axles were among the products made here and sold to the Erie
Railroad. The Ramapo Iron Works also made track equipment
for railroads, such items as automatic switch stands, split switches
and frogs. The great increase in railroad building in that period
caused an expansion that covered the whole of the land owned by
the company. For this reason a new company was formed and
the foundry portion of the business was removed to Mahwah,
New Jersey. The Mahwah plant later became another of the
plants of the Ramapo Ajax division of the American Brakeshoe
& Foundry Company. Both this plant and the Ramapo Ajax
Works manufacture track equipment, marketed to many leading
railways.

7i8

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

At Sherwoodsville, later renamed Wesley Chapel, the Blau-
velt Foundry was established in 1830 to make plows for farm use.
It is said that the first hard coal ever burned in this region was
burned here. Adna Allen conducted a hoe factory at the Stony
Brook dam in Sloatsburg, making not only hoes for agricultural
purposes, but three-cornered hoes for cleaning whaling ships, a
product marketed in Newburgh. His factory site was an old forge
built by Abram Dater, but no vestige of it remains today, all the
traces having been washed away in Sloatsburg’s great flood of
1903. Another early manufacturer was John Sufifern, who oper¬
ated, with his three sons, in Ramapo, a factory for the making of
nails, rods and iron, and later a rolling mill and nail factory near
Garnerville.

In the Hudson River area, at West Haverstraw, was Peck’s
Rolling Mills, owned by Peck & Phelps. That establishment was
founded in 1830, and was for years one of the county’s important
industries, making sheet iron, wire and screws, as well as a side
line of sulphuric acid and other chemicals. Unfavorable tariff
legislation led to the closing of the mills in 1842. In 1848 the War¬
ren Foundry, in Haverstraw (then called Warren after General
Joseph Warren, Bunker Hill hero), began manufacturing stoves
and plows. The Wiles family operated a foundry at Grassy Point,
where machinery for flour mills, sawmills and brickmaking plants
was made. Jacob Thiell ran a forge at Thiells, west of Haver¬
straw, until his death following the Revolutionary War. There
was a file factory near Mount Ivy. Wrought iron railings were
made by the Lockwood Manufacturing Company in the eighties
of the last century. In 1850 the Nyack Foundry was established
by William Crumbie & Sons, who sold it to William McGee in
1863. Mr. McGee continued the business for more than twenty
years. The John W. Kane Boiler Works, founded by John Kane,
and F. W. Ofeldt & Sons manufactured boilers. The Ofeldts
made them for the old-time steam automobiles and afterward for
hot-water heaters. In 1906 F. C. Koch, of Nyack, patented a pre¬
cision gauge for determining to one one-thousandth of an inch
whether steel or iron parts were true. That gauge became indis¬
pensable in making typewriters, automobiles and a wide variety of
products, and Mr. Koch made it in large quantities for the gov-

ROCKLAND COUNTY

719

eminent during the First World War. His associate, Andrew
Genales, of Nyack, bought the business in 1930.

The United Wire Goods Manufacturing Company, of West
Haverstraw, now makes wire hardware. It employs more than
one hundred people, and is headed by Meyer Halpern. Many
diversified manufacturing industries have grown up in Rockland
in recent times, among them the great Dexter Folder Company, of
Pearl River, makers of printers’ and bookbinders’ machines and
feeding and folding machinery, headed by James S. Gilbert and
employing 314 people. In South Nyack there is the Metropolitan
Sewing Machine Corporation, at Railroad and Cedar Hills ave¬
nues, a sewing machine manufacturing enterprise headed by Doug¬
lass C. Mercer and employing more than eighty people.

Shipbuilding

For decades shipbuilding was Nyack’s leading industry. From
ancient times, before the days of the European settlers, the Hudson
River has been an artery of boat travel. When the Europeans first
came to this continent, they found the Indians using canoes. The
Indians were surprised at the appearance of the first great sloops,
introduced by the Dutch — slow-sailing craft which connected New
Amsterdam with points farther north, and which sometimes were
to be seen, a score or more at a time, on the Tappan Zee. Kier’s
Landing, at the south end of Haverstraw, was the only wharf used
at the time of the Revolution, and residents from far back in the
mountains came by oxcart with their produce to send it away on
what they called the “Market Sloop.” A dock was built later,
just north of the present steamboat landing. Sloop derives from
Dutch “sloep,” a typical sample of which varied from sixty-five
to seventy-five feet in length and carried one hundred tons. Sloops
had one mast, carried a mainsail, a jib and usually a topsail, and
were mostly of “square stern, round tuck and no galleries,” to use
nautical parlance. The schooner, which came into vogue in the
late sixties, had two masts. Almost every old-time resident of
Nyack was either a sloop owner or was employed in the trade. The
customary procedure was for a passenger to go aboard and await
a favorable wind and tide. When these were to be had, the old
sloop could outsail even the first steamboats. A voyage usually

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

*20

began Tuesday afternoon, and the return was made on Friday.
The fare to New York was a shilling (12^2 cents). When
becalmed, the sloop was sometimes propelled by oars, manned by
passengers and crew, occasionally being taken the whole distance
in this way.

In a region where the boat was so important, improvements
were naturally made from time to time. The center-board was
introduced in this area in 1815, when Henry Gesner built the
center-board sloop “Advance” at Nyack for Jeremiah Williamson,
of Upper Nyack. As late as i860 there were still as many as two
hundred sloops and schooners on the Hudson, and on July 4, 1870,
a regatta was held for this type of work-boat in Newburgh Bay.

The original Rockland port of entry was Tappan Landing.
When Kakiat was settled, an outlet for its produce was afforded
by a dock at the foot of the Long Clove Road, existence of which
would have remained unknown except for the discovery of Profes¬
sor Lavalette Wilson, of Haverstraw, who found therewith the
spot where Andre landed on the historic treason mission. Later
Major Kiers built a dock farther north. In 1804 Nyack began
communications with New York through the Tallman, Depew and
Meyers market sloops. At length two Nyack men, John E. Green
and Tunis Smith, determined to introduce surer and more rapid
transportation to New York, and, with that end in view, built, in
1826, the steamboat “Orange,” which made its appearance twenty
years after the “Clermont” made its historic trial trip. Needless
to say, the construction of the Nyack-Sufifern Turnpike had much
to do with encouraging the for-those-days large investment that
the building of the “Orange” required. Every possible shrewd
calculation was made to safeguard the investment, and the craft
was even built along lines that would assure her conversion into a
sloop should she fail as a steamboat. Consequently she was called
the “Pot-cheese” and the “Flying Dutchman” by some because of
her shape and slowness. It was a gala day in Nyack when, on May 5,
1828, the “Orange” made her initial trip, as advertised by the Nyack
Steamboat Association. The boat used wood for fuel, and huge
piles of cordwood stood along the roadside from the foot of Main
Street up to Piermont Avenue. For a year or two the “Orange”
had no competition. Then people in Tappan started their own

ROCKLAND COUNTY

721

boats, and other companies launched still other ships to swell the
river traffic.

Many of the boats were built in Nyack shipyards, which flour¬
ished for some years. The “Warren,” renamed “Swallow,” was
destroyed in 1850, and many lives were lost. The “Arrow,” the
second steamboat to be built in Nyack, was twice afire at the Nyack
dock. When rebuilt, in 1866, she burst a flue and was condemned.
One old woman’s life was saved by the fact that her hoopskirt
acted as a life preserver, keeping her head and shoulders above
water until she was rescued.

In the course of Rockland’s shipbuilding history large numbers
of almost every kind of ship from small boats up to steamboats
were built and launched here. Many franchises were granted to
individuals to run ferries between Rockland and Westchester
points, the first such ferryboat franchise having probably been
that granted to Joshua Colwil and Joseph Travis on March 19,
1800. The “Henry W. Longfellow,” a steamboat designed by
William Voorhis and launched in 1880, was a highly experimental
venture, with two cigar-shaped hulls two hundred feet long and
five and one-half feet in diameter amidships, on which rested a
125-foot deck, twenty-five feet wide. It was popularly called the
“Catamaran,” and was never financially successful. Many river
queens traced their origin to Nyack yards during the heyday of
shipbuilding here. Three defenders of the America’s Cup — the
“Grade,” the “Vision” and the “Madeline” — were also built in
Nyack. Fine private yachts are still being turned out in successors
of those earlier yards, although shipbuilding is no longer a major
industry of Rockland.

Ice

Another old industry of Rockland was ice production. Vacant
ice-houses are landmarks pointing to the one-time leadership of
this industry, which, of course, passed with the introduction of
artificial ice and electric refrigeration. At the peak of the industry
from seven hundred to one thousand men and boys were engaged
in harvesting ice at Rockland Lake for the Knickerbocker Ice
Company, the largest enterprise of its kind in New York. Many
changes in ownership took place in this company as ice came to be

S.E.N.Y. — 46

722

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

extensively marketed in New York at about the middle of the nine¬
teenth century. In 1901 that one company, then called the Ameri¬
can Ice Company, boasted a capital of $40,000,000. The capitali¬
zation had been $2,000 when the company started operations in
1831. In the 1830s most New York residents and hotel owners
obtained their water from wells and cisterns, and consequently they
needed comparatively little ice. The ice from nearby ponds was
dirty. But when they saw samples of Rockland Lake ice, they
gave Moses G. Leonard, who, tradition has it, took his samples in
a handkerchief to the metropolis, an every-growing number of
orders. The Knickerbocker Company cut ice also at Hessian
Lake, Bear Mountain. The ice was stored in great pits before the
day of wooden ice-houses. Early in the winter mornings horses
would draw apparatus across the ice, the cake sizes would be
marked, then these cakes would be cut with saws and pushed by
poles through lanes of open water to conveyers and hoisted into
the ice-houses. From Rockland Lake the ice was conveyed by
cable-car down the mountainside to the river landing. Transpor¬
tation to New York City was by sloop, then by steamboat and
barge. Ice once came from many other lakes in addition to those
mentioned above — Goetschius’, Baisley’s, Bulson’s and Ambrey’s
ponds, Stony Point; the Garnerville Ice Pond; Tor Lake and
Beale’s Pond, Haverstraw; Nyack Ice Pond; Hyenga Lake,
Spring Valley; Barber’s Pond, New City; Lake Antrim and the
Ramapo River, Sufifern; the Sparkill Ice Pond; the Nanuet Ice
Pond, and others. Local people were also users of the ice.

Lumber

Once up a time Rockland’s hills were rich producers of
hickory and oak which were used in the construction of ships, while
tall pines furnished masts for old sailing vessels produced in Nyack
and Haverstraw and beyond this county’s borders. Late in the
eighteenth century several brothers named Johnson, employees of
a shipbuilding company, settled in what was later named Johnson-
town, in the southwestern portion of the town of Haverstraw.
From this region eastward to Stony Point and Haverstraw vil¬
lages, in the town’s southeastern part, chestnut, oak and hickory
abounded. Pine was abundant around Stony Point. Until ship-

ROCKLAND COUNTY

723

building developed on a large scale along the riverfront, most of
the wood that was cut was used for fuel by the county’s rolling
mills, foundries and brickyards. In 1846 the brickyards alone
consumed ten thousand eight hundred cords of woods, mostly from
the Stony Point area. Many residents of the Johnsontown-Laden-
town district earned their living by burning charcoal, producing
hoop-poles (used on barrels before the day of iron hoops), and
making woven baskets, wooden mixing spoons and ladles, and big
bailing scoops for boats. From the seventies through the nineties
of the last century the mountain people made steamer baskets for a
New York catering firm, as well as pitch-brooms with which sail¬
ing ship crews might tar the seams of their boats.

The county’s first sawmills took their lumber from within the
county’s borders, but the demands for wood for the brickyards, the
shipyards, the early foundries and the building of homes gradually
depleted the supply. Now there is little lumbering in the county.
In 1923 the Hudson Valley Lumber Company was incorporated
in Nanuet to produce timber for shipwork, and it proceeded to
supply nearly eighty per cent, of the timber for yachts used in the
shipyards along the Atlantic seaboard between New York and
Boston. It furnished the rudder post for Admiral Byrd’s Antarc¬
tic ship, piling for most of the foreign buildings at the World’s
Fair, 1939, and piling for the forty-five thousand-ton battleship
“Iowa.” It is headed by E. E. Pearce, and employed about fifteen
people in 1940. Except for a few small sawmills and lumber yards,
this is the major enterprise of the sort in present-day Rockland.

Paper and Wood Fiber Products

Paper box manufacturing has for many years been a prominent
industry of this county. Between 1850 and 1858 John I. Suffern
made coarse wrapping paper in the plant that his family had pre¬
viously used as a rolling mill in Garnerville. Walter Johnson also
made rag-stock paper in a mill just off Broadway, along the Minis-
ceongo River, in Haverstraw. Both mills were operated by water¬
power. Early in the present century Hefter & Company, of Haver¬
straw, operated a paper box plant, and a New City plant also
made paper boxes. Piermont was a natural center for such efforts,
however, and the Robert Gair Company, widely known in this

724

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

industry, chose this community as its Rockland County center.
Piermont was the terminus of the Erie Railroad many years ago.
The route from Buffalo, established in 1853, ended at Piermont,
and passengers traveled the last twenty-five miles by boat to New
York. The town was chosen as a terminus because the original
railway charter prohibited the railway company from connecting
with any railroad running into another State. Later this condition
was revoked, and in 1862 the terminal was moved to Jersey City.
Half of Piermont’s population then moved away. The old railroad
yards, covering more than four acres, stood on the site later occu¬
pied by the Gair Cartons Division of the Robert Gair Company,
Inc., of Brooklyn, New York.

The first paper mill on the site was erected by the Piermont
Paper Company, one of the founders of which was Martin R.
Williams, who saw while traveling here in 1901 the possibilities of
this community as a cardboard manufacturing center. Production
began in 1902, and for twenty years the plant was given over
wholly to cardboard making. One of the principal customers of
the Piermont Paper Company was the Robert Gair Company. To
effect economies in production and transportation, the Gair com¬
pany took over a number of mills in 1920, among them the Pier¬
mont mill, and so became a producer as well as a user of cardboard.
Plant additions were made in Piermont, and by 1927 all of the
Gair company’s folding carton equipment was in Piermont. The
Gair company itself dates back to 1864, when Robert Gair started
it in New York City as a paper jobbing house, making paper bags
and boxes. In 1879 he invented a way of cutting and creasing
cardbord in one operation, so making possible the mass production
of folding paper cartons. The introduction of advertising and the
use of brand names in the late nineties and after the turn of the
century led to an ever-increasing use of the paper carton, stamped
and finished for mailing, until today it has largely superseded tin,
glass and other packaging materials for the shipment of coffee,
tea, sugar, milk, cream and other items. Cardboard cases have
even replaced wooden cases for shipment of heavier parcels. In
1940 the Gair company employed 814 people in the Piermont plant,
headed by George E. Dyke. More than eighty-five per cent, of the
yearly payroll of more than $1,250,000 goes to people living within

ROCKLAND COUNTY

725

six miles of the plant, and so the contribution to local economic life
is an important one.

In Haverstraw the firm of Muscarella & Kaplan, at West
Broad Street and Maple Avenue, headed by Joseph Muscarella and
Sol Kaplan and employing more than eighty people, mostly women,
makes paper window draperies.

The Fibre Conduit Company, in Orangeburg, employing 13 1
people in 1940, makes a product known as “fibre conduit” from
wood fibre, treated with coal-tar pitch. Operations at this plant,
which is headed by H. J. Robertson, start with old newspapers,
tons of which are shipped here and put in a great hopper to be
ground up. The resulting mass is treated to produce the so-called
“fibre conduit,” used mainly in electrical construction, but also for
gas mains and drains. This product is particularly useful in carry¬
ing electric wires in large buildings where cables may be embedded
under floors. The Empire State and Chrysler buildings, in New
York, are so equipped. The market is world-wide, though the
industry is strictly local, having been established in 1893, when
S. R. Bradley, of Nyack, helped invent the process for making the
product. The company occupies thirty acres of ground, with
buildings providing about one hundred thousand square feet of
floor space.

Pianos and Organs

The first manufacturer of pianos in Nyack was John Tallman,
who started such an enterprise in 1832. Thompson & Ross entered
upon a similar business in 1850, building the factory in Third
Avenue, where they were succeeded by Sumner Sturtevant, he in
turn being succeeded by F. J. N. Tallman, Nyack’s first organ
builder. F. J. N. Tallman and M. A. Clark came to Nyack in 1885
to place the organ in Grace Episcopal Church for Hillburn Roose¬
velt, cousin of Theodore Roosevelt. When Mr. Tallman bought
the Sturtevant plant, Mr. Clark became foreman in the plant. Mr.
Clark built his own factory, however, in 1898, atop South Moun¬
tain, in South Nyack. Between 1919 and 1930 the firm was known
as Clark & Fenton, Arthur L. Fenton having been admitted as a
partner. Mr. Fenton later entered business on his own account,
while Mr. Clark’s firm became known as M. A. Clark & Sons, with
Robert Clark, Orangetown supervisor, as a later head of the firm.

726

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Many Rockland churches have organs that have been made in this
county.

Chemicals

Chemicals for commercial and medicinal uses constitute another
division of Rockland industry. Many years ago dynamite was a
product made here. The dynamite works, just north of Upper
Nyack, at Hook Mountain, proved so unpopular that the village
of Upper Nyack extended its boundaries for a half-mile merely to
keep the industry from coming closer. That industry disappeared
when Hook Mountain was taken into the Palisades Interstate Park
and all industries were forbidden.

A very old industry which still continues is the manufacture of
“Bell-ans,” a stomach remedy, by Bell & Comapny, Inc. They
have their manufacturing chemical plant and laboratories on the
Greenbush Road and Route 303, Orangeburg, on land adjoining
the fairgrounds and race track. Dating back to 1897, Bell-ans
were originally sold only to physicians and druggists, not to the
public, for use when professionally prescribed. The sale became
general, beginning in 1914, and “Bell-ans” are now known through¬
out the world. The company, which is headed by J. L. Dodge,
employed twenty-six people in 1940.

An early chemical factory was the Garnerville Print Works,
making pyroligneous acid from wood for use in calico printing.
The factory near Garnerville was afterward abandoned, and
another was started near Cedar Pond (Lake Tiorati).

The Lederle Laboratories, in Pearl River, employing 733 peo¬
ple in 1940, manufacture a variety of useful biological products.
Started on a small scale in New York City in 1906, this company
was an early experimenter with serums for disease prevention.
Its earliest experiments were made on twenty-five rabbits. Two
years later twenty thousand rabbits were being used. The labora¬
tory is now using continuously from five hundred to six hundred
horses, ten thousand to twenty thousand white mice, one thousand
five hundred hogs and thousands of guinea pigs. It has developed
and manufactured serums for treatment of each of the more than
thirty pneumonia types, and has developed approximately five
hundred antitoxins, antidotes and serums of all sorts, among them
the tuberculin “patch” tests, hailed as an important step in tuber-

•>

ROCKLAND COUNTY

727

culosis control by aiding early recognition of the disease in infected
persons.

Still another type of chemical manufacturing is represented
in Allied Products, Inc., of Suffern, makers of perfumes and cos¬
metics. This company was established in 1886 by David Hall
McConnell as the California Perfume Company. The founder
was previously a book publisher, but he conceived a plan for the
house-to-house sale of perfumes. At first he did his work in a
small way, filling individual orders. Then he started a small
laboratory in his home community of Suffern, with the aid of his
wife. From perfumes, the enterprise branched out to include other
products — toilet articles, flavoring extracts and the like. Later the
names of Allied Products, Inc., and Avon Products, Inc., were
adopted, and the organization now makes about 350 items, and
has approximately forty thousand representatives, most of them
women, throughout1 the United States. It employs five hundred
people in Suffern. D. H. McConnell, Jr., is president of the
company.

Seeley & Company, prominent throughout the United States in
the manufacture of flavoring extracts, has a plant in Piermont
Avenue, Nyack, which was opened in 1924, the year in which the
company was founded. It specializes in such fine fruit extracts as
apricot, blackberry, cherry, currant, loganberry, peach, pineapple,
raspberry flavors, and also makes such special extracts as almond,
chocolate and peppermint, as well as vanilla extracts, imitation fruit
oils and so on. R. Gordon Smith, of Nyack, is president of the
company and manager of the Nyack plant. There is also a plant
in Farmingdale, Long Island, acquired in 1933. There are a home
office and research laboratory in New York.

Kay-Fries Chemicals, Inc., makers of insecticides, have a plant
one mile north of West Haverstraw railway station. A. G. Kay
heads this company, which employed forty-three men in 1940.

Dyemaking began to figure in Rockland County’s industrial
life at about the time of the First World War, when this country
was shut off from German sources of dyes. One American cor¬
poration, the Aniline Company, took over the Peerless plant in
Nyack and made many improvements with a view to setting up a
workable manufacturing program, but the venture was of brief

728

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

duration. Two Japanese workmen were killed at this plant in
an explosion on January 31, 1919, twelve other workers were
injured, and the main plant was destroyed. A hard all-day fire
followed the explosion. A second explosion occurred, too, forty-
five minutes after the first, and many lesser blasts shook the
community.

Textile and Apparel Trades

The cotton mills of the Pierson brothers in Ramapo have
already been mentioned. From time to time other textile factories
were built to meet increasing needs, with the result that Rockland
promised at one time to become a textile center. The depressions
of 1873 and 1929 were not kind to these enterprises, however, and
even the silk mills that succeeded the earlier cotton mills were swept
away, as was the Rockland Finishing Company, at Garnerville, the
largest textile manufacturing house in the county. Cheaper south¬
ern labor and the growth of the synthetic fabric industry were
other contributing causes.

Jacob Sloat built a cotton mill in Sloatsbiyg in 1815. Like the
Piersons, he ran his cotton textile plant as an adjunct to an iron
business. Later he made cotton twine. A new process devised
by him made firm and durable twine, and eventually he turned all
his efforts into this branch of the business. He retired in 1851,
but the firm continued in business until 1878, then finally ceased
operations. In the early eighties the silk industry rose to take the
place of some of the vanishing cotton mills. In 1812, three years
before Mr. Sloat established his textile mill, a cotton mill was built
at Dutch Factory, near ITyenga Lake, southeast of Spring Valley.
Cotton yarn was made there, and later coarse cotton blankets, can-
dlewicking and cotton batting were added to the line. Still later
mosquito netting and buckram were added. In Spring Valley the
woolen knitting mill of Isaac Remsen Blauvelt was erected about
a decade before the Civil War. This plant remained a landmark
along Pascack Creek until it was destroyed by fire in the spring of
1941. Its machinery was run by water-power.

Prior to 1815 John Moore, a Negro wheelwright, conducted a
carding factory in Piermont, but in that year it was bought by
William Ferdon, who made it into a woolen mill, where yarn was
spun and blankets were made. The mill was burned down after

ROCKLAND COUNTY

729

the Civil War. West Nyack was once the home, too, of a horse-
blanket and woolen plant. Nyack once boasted a shoddy mill,
which stood in what is now Memorial Park. The product made
there was used in making the cloth that provides a fuzzy surface
for wallpaper. The site was that of an old gristmill, where such
diversified products as sulphur matches, woodenware and pails
were manufactured at different periods. Another shoddy mill was
established at Sloatsburg by Hiram Knapp after the Civil War.
He operated it until after the turn of the century, although the
mill was thrice burned down, being rebuilt with great patience by
Mr. Knapp after each disaster. Another old mill was the fulling
mill for the processing of thread and cloth, operated at Wesley
Chapel by the Rev. James Sherwood. It was originally a gristmill,
built in 1765, one of the first three in Ramapo. In 1846 it was con¬
verted into a cotton batting plant, but- it fell a victim to adverse
economic conditions in 1880.

Garnerville was long the center of the Rockland Print Works.
In fact, the village sprang up about the print works and was named
after the Garner family, who were predominantly in control of the
industry. The founder of textile activity here was John Glass, a
Scotsman, who in 1828 bought forty-five acres of land on the
south bank of the Minisceongo and built a calico-printing plant.
The factory was completed and manufacturing begun by 1831. His
death on June 7, that year, when the boiler exploded on the boat
on which he shipped his first load of merchandise to Grassy Point,
caused the Garnerville plant to lie dormant for seven years. In
1838 Thomas and James Garner and Charles Wells purchased the
plant, which grew rapidly. In 1853 the Rockland Print Works
was incorporated to print and dye woolen, cotton and linen goods.
Expansion continued until 1908, when the enterprise was bought
by the Rockland Finishing Company, reputedly for $1,000,000,
and a further $2,000,000 was spent for new buildings and improve¬
ments. The company employed nearly eight hundred men and
women, hundreds of whom became stockholders after the First
World War. They had full representation in company manage¬
ment, and the employees generally received substantial bonuses
from time to time. These workers were forced onto the relief
rolls, however, in the period following 1930, when, after suffering

730

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

heavy losses because of unfavorable economic conditions, the plant
was sold to a southern bleachery and print works and the machin¬
ery moved to South Carolina. One of the sufferers in the business
world, William F. Larkin, operator of the Garnerville Ice Com¬
pany, suggested in 1934 a plan whereby business men might join
in purchasing the plant and leasing it to manufacturers who might
wish to come here from other communities. Ninety-one business
men joined to form the Garnerville Holding Company in May,
1934, and a few years later sixteen factories were operating in the
building, employing more than one thousand five hundred workers,
both men and women, and distributing an average payroll of
$1,000,000 or more. Many of the factories here are knit goods
and dyeing establishments. The Bogart-Alabama Knitting Mills,
Inc., one of these enterprises, makes knitted sportswear, employ¬
ing 27 people. The Flodine Knitting Mills, Inc., employ 23 in
making a similar line, and still another firm in this group, Hirsam
Knit Sportwear, Inc., employs 53 workers. The Jonette Knitting
Mills, Inc., employing 8 people, manufacture knitted cloth. Still
others in this group are : the Murray Piece Dye Works, silk and
rayon dyers, employing 8; the R. W. Bates Piece Dye Works,
dyers and finishers, with 192 employees; the Sanco Piece Dye
Works, Inc., dyers and finishers, employing 145 workers; the
Capitol Piece Dye Works, Inc., with 83; the Elk Dye Works, Iric.,
with 55; Ideal Screen Print Works, Inc., textile printers, employ¬
ing 32 ; and the Rockland Dyeing & Processing Corporation, rayon
and silk finishers, with 6 employees ; the Feldlink Silk Company,
silk and rayon ribbon manufacturers, employing 36 ; and the Selinka
Ribbon Company, Inc., weavers and cutters of ribbons, employ¬
ing 11.

Sloatsburg also has activity along the lines of dyeing and fin¬
ishing, with the Ramapo Finishing Corporation, employing 125
workers. In Haverstraw the Longlife Elastic Manufacturing
Company, making elastic webbing, employs 63. It is said to be
the only plant of its kind in New York State, and has a world
market. The R. G. Buser Silk Corporation, in Piermont, employs
30 people in the manufacture of silk ribbons.

On the side of silk manufacturing, John Dunlop established
the Dunlop Silk Mills, in Spring Valley, in 1887, as a branch of

ROCKLAND COUNTY

73i

mills started in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1864. They continued
to weave dress fabrics, principally thrown silk, employing 150 or
200 people until the 1929 depression and finally ending operations
in 1935. The founder was succeeded by two sons, George M. and
John Dunlop, who were later joined by a third, Beveridge C. Dun¬
lop. A more recent silk factory was that of A. Schottland, near
the Nanuet station, later sold and moved to the South. For a
brief period Hillburn had a silk plant. It was established in 1887,
the year in which the Dunlop plant was founded, and for a few
years employed mostly teen-age boys and girls until it was burned

Post Office Building, Haverstraw

down. Haverstraw’s first silk mills were a community enterprise,
the Home Silk Mills. Local people bought stock and built the
building at about the turn of the century. The plant is that which
is now operated by the Longlife Elastic Manufacturing Company,
mentioned above. The Home Silk Mills were later sold to the
Rockland Silk Company, of New York, then to the Belding-Hem-
inway Silk Company for use as a broadsilk weaving mill. The
chief present-day silk mills are, however, those of the Feldlink,
Buser and Selinka companies, referred to above, in the Garnerville
Terminal.

732

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

As is but natural in a community very close to the large New
York apparel manufacturing industry, Rockland has many fac¬
tories engaged in the production of this type of merchandise, par¬
ticularly women’s wear. Sam Barkin, Inc., another firm situated
in the Garnerville Terminal, West Haver straw, employs seventy-
four people in the output of women’s coats. Jacob Kaplan, in
Haverstraw, manufactures women’s blouses, skirts and sport
coats. Pyramid Sportswear, in Sparkill, produces children’s
sportswear. Women’s sportswear is also produced by the Garner
Manufacturing Company, another Garnerville Terminal enter¬
prise, and the Valley Sportswear Company, Inc., of Spring Val¬
ley. Roberts, Inc., in New City, makes nurses’ uniforms, employ¬
ing thirty-eight people, mostly women. It was founded by C. W.
Roberts, of Upper Nyack, who from 1906 to 1932 was a partner
in the Dean Apron Factory, in Nyack.

The Central Wash Suit Company, Inc., manufactures boys’
and girls’ clothing, such as ski suits and wash suits, employing
1 16 in its Haverstraw plant and more than 200 in Peekskill. The
Sufifern Novelty Company, Inc., of Sufifern, produces children’s
novelty clothes. Also in Sufifern, the Gluckin Corporation employs
forty-nine in making women’s underwear and brassieres. Pre¬
viously operating in New York City, it opened a Sufifern plant in
1928. The Sportuft Company, Inc., makes chenille robes in West
Haverstraw, with quarters in the Garnerville Terminal. Women’s
hats are made by the Best Made Hat Company, Inc., of Sufifern,
and the Master Hat Company, Inc., of Nyack. Joseph Lieval, in
Tappan Road, Palisades, employs twenty-eight people in an artifi¬
cial flower stamen industry, a novelty related to the textile trade.
Quilts and pads are made by the National Sure Fit Quilting Com¬
pany, Inc., of Nanuet, employing fifty-two.

At certain points, as in the making of luggage and gloves, the
textile products and leather products industries overlap. For
instance, the Canvas & Leather Novelty Company, of Haver¬
straw, is engaged in the production of a wide variety of such
novelties.

Leather Goods

Nyack was long noted for its shoe factories, although this is
another industry that has passed. William H. Perry started mak-

ROCKLAND COUNTY

733

ing shoes by hand in 1826. He was followed by Nathaniel, Edward
and Daniel Burr, who continued the process of hand manufacture
until Daniel Burr installed a sewing machine. Much of the origi¬
nal hand work was done by expert shoemakers, men and women,
in their homes at night, and often these artisans were to be seen
carrying great bundles of partly-finished shoes from the Nyack
plants to their homes in nearby communities. Austin & Burr, suc¬
cessors to Edward Burr, started operations in 1855, admitting
James F. Dezendorf as a partner a few months later. The new
firm was Austin, Burr & Company. George Cooke succeeded
them, beginning in 1864. Ketchel, Cay wood & Burr started in
1857, but John Burr withdrew in 1859 and started his own firm.
In 1866 Ketchel & Cay wood introduced steam power, endowing the
industry with a modern tone. In 1884 as many as 688,424 pairs of
shoes were produced in Nyack. The largest of these factories was
that of Andrew H. Jackman, at Railroad Avenue and Cedar Hill
Avenue. The last to continue operating was that of Richard E.
King, at Jackson Avenue and Washington Street, which closed
soon after the turn of the century. Other prominent figures in
the industry were G. T. & C. Morrow, William E. Tuttle, P. Mor¬
rell, Conrad Doersch, Charles Theis, C. B. Kennedy, Jacob Sie-
bert, Jacob Scott, G. W. Tremper and his sons, Glen and Hadley
Tremper. Tanneries were at one time a Rockland industry, too,
when leather was needed for both shoes and harness. In 1829 the
county boasted nearly one-third as many horses as it had people.
But this industry, likewise, declined.

The county now has a few handbag manufacturers : Hesslein-
Samstag, Inc., of Spring Valley, employing 115 people; Heimer
Brothers & Frankel, Inc., of West Haverstraw, with forty-five
employees; the Rockland Novelty Bag Company, of Nyack,
employing thirty-one; the Service Hand Bag Company, also of
Nyack, employing seventeen ; and Spring Valley Leather Goods,
with thirteen employees.

The fur industry is represented by the M. L. Fur Company, of
Pearl River, and the Rockland Fur Corporation, of Spring Valley.
Both make fur coats, and the Pearl River establishment also makes
dresses. Industries perhaps related to the textile trades are such
enterprises as the Metropolitan Sewing Machine Corporation, of

734

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

South Nyack, mentioned under “Iron, Metals and Metal Products”
above. It is a unit of the Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Com¬
pany, which traces its origin back to the invention, in 1857, by
James E. A. Gibbs, of a sewing machine that could make a twisted
loop stitch. Later features were added by James Willcox. Pearl
River once had a sewing machine industry, too; was, in fact,
founded around that industry, which was founded in 1873 by Julius
E. Braunsdorf. The machine was known as the “Etna.” The
factory where it was made is now occupied by the Dexter Folder
Company. A needle manufacturing business once flourished in
Thiells, west of the Haverstraws, between 1850 and 1880, under
the direction of Henry Essex, who used the site of the old forge
of Jacob Thiell, near the Minisceongo Creek.

Food Products

Aside from the food produced on Rockland’s farms, some man¬
ufacturing enterprises have sprung up in the towns and villages.
Widmann Brothers Bakery, Inc., in Lawrence Street, Spring Val¬
ley, employs thirty-two people, mostly men, in the baking of bread
and cake. The fruit flavoring extracts and related products turned
out by Seeley & Company, Inc., of Nyack, mentioned above in
connection with the chemical trades, are, of course, used for food
production. The Sufifern Bottling Works, Inc., of Suffern, makes
carbonated drinks. Other smaller organizations are engaged in
the manufacture of food products.

Other Manufactured Goods

The Consolidated Stamp Manufacturing Company, in West
Street, Spring Valley, makers of rubber stamps and the like,
employs seventy people, mostly men. The medals and other prod¬
ucts made here are widely used by firemen and others who have
need for such materials. The cutlery business started early in the
century by Gustav C. Knauth, in Spring Valley, continued until
the factory building was burned down in 1941. Before the Civil
War, soap was made in Haverstraw by George R. Weyant, and
candles were made in Thiells by William McGeorge, operator of
an old-time tannery. Another forgotten industry is silver plating.
Such a factory was founded in 1820 by Joseph Blauvelt r~ar the

ROCKLAND COUNTY 735

present site of Bardonia, but it was discontinued in 1865. Most
of the silverware turned out here was marketed through New York
stores, although many Rockland County families in that period
obtained their own tableware in their home county. Back in 1888
Rockland boasted seventeen tobacco factories, which produced one
million five hundred thousand cigars in that year, five hundred
sixty thousand of these being made at Viola by W. S. Forshay.

The liquor business and related enterprises have also had their
place in the industrial life of this county. -In 1829 there was a dis¬
tillery in Clarkstown, and from 1855 until 1880 New City had a
brewery, the last owners of which were the Schmersahl family.
Brewery Road, in New City, was named after this enterprise. In
1900 the Doetschmann Manufacturing Company established a
plant for the manufacture of perfume in Railroad Avenue, Nyack,
but that business is no longer listed among Nyack’s industries.
Before the Civil War there were two slaughter houses at Thiells,
one operated by Levi Knapp and the other by James & Belding
Barnes. A third was situated at what later was named Voorhis
Point, in South Nyack. In the days of carriages and sleighs, these
were manufactured in Nyack by Aaron L. Christie, who started a
wagonmaking business in 1835 and continued it until 1871, when
he was succeeded by the firm of A. E. & J. H. Christie. Aaron
Taylor and E. L. Wright were also engaged in this business in its
heyday. In the early nineties Oscar Banta began manufacturing
exercising apparatus in Sparkilh At one time William Hyenga,
after whom Hyenga Lake, near Spring Valley, was named, was
engaged in a great pipe manufacturing business, although he first
carried on this work in New York City, not in Rockland, coming
to live in Spring Valley only after his retirement in 1880. It was
after a year of retirement that he reentered the business world
by establishing a pipe factory in Spring Valley, on the old Dutch
Factory site. A descendant of his business is Briarcraft, Inc.,
of No. 66 Central Avenue, Spring Valley, who still employ nearly
ninety people in the manufacture of pipes. Before the Second
World War disturbed international trade, briar burls were imported
from Italy, Algeria and Ethiopia for use in the output of one mil¬
lion five hundred thousand “Smokemaster” pipes, which in turn
were shipped to China, South Africa, the Philippines and all parts

736

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

of the world. Another pipe manufacturing plant is that of Michael
Jacaruso, at No. 44 Decatur Avenue, Spring Valley. It makes
briarwood pipes and employs seventeen.

Any community has its own very peculiar and specialized indus¬
tries, and Rockland is no exception. One of these is the Duncan
Studios, on Wayne Avenue, Suffern, home of the Tatterman
Marionettes. William Ireland Duncan heads the project. His
own marionette companies have given literally thousands of per¬
formances to millions of spectators. These shows have been pro¬
duced sometimes to make a general appeal and sometimes to serve
the advertising needs of large industries such as Du Pont, A. B.
Dick, General Electric, Kelvinator and Coca-Cola.

Another Rockland specialty is printing for the blind. In Main
Street, Monsey, the Mathilda Ziegler Publishing Company for
the Blind, Inc., employs twenty people in the production of Braille
printing. Walter G. Holmes is president of this printing business,
which is described as the largest printing plant for the blind in the
entire world. Mr. Holmes, who was at one time business manager
of the Memphis “Commercial Appeal,” made a business trip to
New York in 1906. While in New York he read a newspaper
story concerning bequests of a man recently deceased — large sums
to aid deaf, crippled, orphaned and handicapped people — and was
particularly impressed by the complete lack of any mention of the
blind. His older brother was blind, and Mr. Holmes, naturally
interested in possibilities of helping this class of suffering human¬
ity, wrote a letter to the “New York Herald” — a very brief few
lines — which the “Herald” published over his signature. Mrs.
William Ziegler, widow of the man who had made the other
bequests, immediately answered the letter, and, as a result, financed
the “Mathilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind,” provided he would
conduct it. On March 7, 1907, the first issue appeared. Since
then it has been published monthly and sent free to the blind who
read Braille throughout the United States and Canada. For a
number of years Mrs. Ziegler personally provided $25,000 a year
to meet expenses. Later she formed the Ziegler Foundation for
the Blind, and at her death a bequest added more to the fund. The
endowment now amounts to $800,000, and copies go to more than
sixteen thousand blind persons, the Federal Government granting

ROCKLAND COUNTY

73 7

a free postage privilege because of the nature of the publication.
The plant in Monsey has presses with a capacity of thirty-two
thousand pages per hour. Some blind girls of the Suffern Blind
Players’ Club work on the magazine for a week in each month of
the year.

There are many other small printing plants, and several news¬
paper publishing houses add job printing to their other activities.

Post Office Building, Nyack

These publishing and printing establishments are mentioned in
connection with Rockland County’s newspapers.

Retail Business; Service Industries

With the passage of the years and the disappearance of what
were formerly some of the county’s leading manufacturing indus¬
tries, Rockland has become more active in the retail trades and in
the so-called service occupations. The public utilities are among
the larger service organizations, notably the Rockland Light &
Power Company, of Nyack, employing 218 people on operations
extending into Orange and Sullivan counties, as well as in Rock¬
land ; and the Rockland Gas Company, of Spring Valley, employ¬
ing 53. The Rockland Light & Power Company, in Nyack, took
over, in 1900, the old Nyack Electric Light Company, formed in

S.E.N.Y. — 47

73§

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

1887, which three years later, in 1890, added th^ incandescent
system to the arc lights that they had furnished exclusively until
then. The Spring Valley Water Works & Supply Company and
the Monsey Water Corporation are other independent organiza¬
tions. Telephone service is now handled through the New York
Telephone Company, which on July 1, 1896, absorbed the older
exchange of the Westchester Telephone Company, started October
15, 1883. Still earlier there was an experimental homemade wire
connecting the public school with Nyack Opera House.

In a very different category, there are a number of power
laundries, employing close to two hundred workers : the Rockland
Laundry Company, of Spring Valley; the Haver straw Better
Laundry Corporation; the Spring Valley Laundry Service; the
Up-To-Date Laundry and the Star Laundry, both of Nyack.

Contracting is another industry that has shown considerable
activity, both in the building construction industry and in highway
construction and other branches. Some of the leaders in this field
are: Building contractors — Alexander Construction Company,
Spring Valley; Ball-Fuller Corporation, West Nyack; Elwood P
Blanchard, Suffern; Fred L. Holt, Pearl River; John Koop, New
City; Howard J. McCloud, Suffern; A. D. McLeod, Upper
Nyack; Registered Builders, Inc., Tappan; Clarence J. Seaton,
Haverstraw; Thomas H. Thomsen, Tappan; Floyd J. Vanderbeek,
Sloatsburg; Stanley Waldron & Brother, also of Sloatsburg.
Highway and street construction — Clinton Asphalt Company, Suf¬
fern; Highway Distributing Corporation, West Nyack; Ward
Brothers, Inc., Suffern; West Shore Concrete Company, Suffern.
Public utility construction — Beckerle & Wright, Pearl River;
Empire Contracting Corporation, Suffern; and A. Stanley Mundy
& Company, Nyack. Miscellaneous general contracting — Arthur
N. Phillips, of Monsey. Plumbing and heating — A. S. Goddard,
Nyack; Crum & O’Brien, Spring Valley; Samuel W. Sheldon,
Pearl River. Painting, paperhanging and decorating — Roy Wana-
maker, Sr., Upper Nyack; David Krivin, Spring Valley; Thomas
J. Connor, Spring Valley; Fred De Revere, Nyack; Robert Moel¬
ler, Pearl River; and F. J. Shaw, Haverstraw. Masonry, plaster¬
ing and lathing — Cronin Plastering Company, Haverstraw; Fer-
retti & Ferretti, Inc., Nanuet; Louis Ferretti, Spring Valley; Wil¬
liam Fesel, Suffern; John Forni, Nanuet; Hopper & Hopper, Inc.,

ROCKLAND COUNTY

739

Pearl River; Anthony Linguanti, Spring Valley. Carpentry —
Burton Mower, Garnerville. Roofing and sheet metal work —
Haverstraw Roofing & Sheet Metal Works, Haverstraw.

In addition to railway transportation, buses are extensively
used in Rockland. Rockland Coaches, Inc., of Spring Valley,
employ 102 people; the Spring Valley Motor Coach Company, of
Spring Valley, forty-seven; the Rockland Transit Corporation, of
Spring Valley, fourteen; the Nyack Deluxe Transit Corporation, of
Spring Valley, nine; and Rockland Bus Lines, Inc., of West Haver¬
straw, seven. Also operating out of Spring Valley are Tappan
& Nyack Bus, Inc. In trucking the following organizations are
active: Allison & Ver Valen Trucking Company, Inc., Haver¬
straw; Graney Motor Car Corporation, Sparkill; Guy Marchesa,
Garnerville; Provan Petroleum Transportation Company, West
Haverstraw; Fred Schultz, Sr., Suffern; Siegel Express, Inc.,
Garnerville; Volk’s Express, Inc., Nyack. The Nyack Express
Company, Inc., of Nyack, is engaged in both trucking and ware¬
housing. The Ferries Operating Company, Inc., of Burd Street,
Nyack, operating ferries between Nyack and Tarrytown, employs
twenty-three people. The taxicab systems in the separate towns
and villages round out the transportation system.

Hotels, summer tourist houses, filling stations, stenographic
services, photographic establishments, automobile repairs and
other repair establishments round out that class of industry that
might be thought of as service enterprises. Very few wholesale
establishments are to be found, considering the size of the county
and the extent of its other business activities. The remainder of the
county’s business life is taken up, in the main, with smaller stores
and retail establishments. United States census figures for 1939 (a
normal pre-war condition) present the following illuminating infor¬
mation relative to the retail activity in the leading communities :

Retail

Trade

(1939)

Number

Population

T otal

( 1940 )

Stores

Sales

Employees

Payroll

Rockland County ...

74,26i

1,027

$23,471,000

1,768

$1,999,000

Haverstraw .

5,909

158

3,602,000

274

347,000

Nyack .

187

6,124,000

488

578,000

Spring Valley .

4,308

118

2,928,000

185

194,000

Suffern .

3.768

1 15

3,303,000

244

275,000

West Haverstraw . . . .

2,533

202,000

14,000

Rest of County .

52,537

431

7,312,000

563

591,000

CHAPTER VIII

Educational and Other Professional Life

^ -

CHAPTER VIII

Rducational and Other Professional Life

Schools

Schools in Rockland were, probably because of the battle
against the wilderness and other difficulties of the pioneers, slower
in development than those of certain regions in Virginia and New
England. For a long time the labors of the young were required
to till the fields, build the homes and supply the material necessities
of life.

Rockland’s first school was that organized in Tappan in 1694,
with Hermanus Van Huysen as teacher. The first schoolhouse of
which there is a record was the Old Tappan Schoolhouse, part of
which has more recently served as James E. Martin’s residence.
It was erected in 1711, and is thought by many to be the oldest
schoolhouse in New York State, perhaps in the United States, still
standing. It served also as a religious center, divine services hav¬
ing been held here, and was used for a number of other purposes.
Records show that it was sold to the school district for its exclusive
use in 1768. It was used as a schoolhouse until 1855. For a half-
century it remained the only school in the county. Then a school
was built in connection with the Brick Church, and a little later
one was opened on the site of present-day Haverstraw. This long
period of comparatively little school building activity was not, how¬
ever, an educationless era. As indicated elsewhere in these pages,
a very close relation existed between the children of Colonial fami¬
lies and the minister of the church. It was because education was,
in a certain way, included within the scope of ecclesiastical activity
that earlier attention was given to church building than to the con¬
struction of schools. Often the minister was the only educated
man in a community, and almost always his attachment to the chil-

744

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

dren led to his imparting to them some of his fund of knowledge
and life-wisdom.

The Revolutionary War took its full toll in Rockland County,
and was one of a long series of pioneer-day struggles that served to
limit constructive enterprise, particularly in the cultural sphere.
In 1798, the year of Rockland’s separation from Orange, the sum
of $599, which in contrast with present expenditures seems shock¬
ingly small, was appropriated for school purposes by the County
Board of Supervisors. From that time, however, once the begin¬
ning was made, growth was rapid.

As early as 1796, two years before the division of counties, rec¬
ords of the highway commissioners’ proceedings in the town of
Haverstraw contained reference to a schoolhouse near Francis
Gurnee’s. Another was situated near Garnerville. In the 1813
records of the same town, a division of the town into six school dis¬
tricts, to accord with a new State law, was mentioned. By 1817
three of these districts had disappeared. The remaining districts
were called No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4. District No. 1 extended from
Grassy Point to Clarkstown, and from the Hudson River westward
to a north-south line through Halstead Gurnee’s mill dam. Dis¬
trict No. 3 comprised the present West Haverstraw-Garnerville
area, which was originally just north of District No. 1. District
No. 2 had given up its school, the children being thenceforth
divided between Districts Nos. 1 and 3. District No. 1 had 130
pupils; District No. 3, 129; District No. 4, 177. Another school,
No. 5, was built in 1820. By 1828 the schools had increased to six
in number. The District No. 1 school was a red frame building of
two stories, of the type then referred to as an “academy.” The
first teacher there, named Quinn, married a daughter of Daniel
Wandell, the last survivor of the witnesses of Andre’s execution.
That schoolhouse was burned, January 21, 1846. On February
2, that year, a district school meeting voted to raise $1,300 for a
new academy. So a substantial brick school, now used as town
and village hall, was erected on the same lot.

Some time before 1800 the first schoolhouse was erected in
Nyack. It was situated in Main Street, and was taught by a man
named Davenport. In 1806 a new school was erected in Broad¬
way, on a site later used for the post office. The building was two

■

stories high, and the institution was well attended, considering the
sparse population of the period. This building was burned down
in 1827, but was afterward rebuilt. In 1837 a building was erected
on the present site. In 1851 a new and larger building was con¬
structed, with Archibald Stewart as teacher. School attendance
grew as population increased, and in 1867 it was found necessary
to make a large addition to the structure. In 1884 the building
was once more enlarged by the addition of a new front, and in
1892 it was still further enlarged on each side, when fireproof
stairways of iron and stone were built. On November 25, 1890,

High School, Nyack

the first regents’ examination was given in this school, and on
December 10, that year, it was officially admitted as a regents’
school and a superintendents’ school. Ira H. Lawton came as
superintendent in the autumn of 1890.

The Rockland County Female Institute was opened in South
Nyack in the fifties of the last century, under the direction of the
Rev. B. Van Zanclt. It was operated successfully for about ten
years in what was later known as the Tappan Zee Hotel, then still
later as the Nyack Club. Some years ago the building was entirely
destroyed inside by fire, and a long time afterward it was com¬
pletely demolished. To erect it in the first place, shares were sub-

746

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

scribed at $50 each, and a board of trustees was formed, represent¬
ing the religions of the county. Simon V. Sickles was author of
the plan. He bought $10,000 worth of stock, but tragically died
two days after the school was opened. His plan was to make it
a “second Mount Holyoke College,” but his death prevented fulfil¬
ment of the plan. A piece of the institute’s stationery in 1858 con¬
tained a few lines of small type : “Rockland Female Institute — An
Academic and Collegiate School for Young Ladies, in which are
taught all the common and higher English branches, composition,
Ancient and Modern Languages, Music, Drawing and Calis¬
thenics.” L. Delos Mansfield took charge of the school in that
year, and successfully conducted the institute for several years
thereafter. Then it was finally closed.

In 1859 Christopher Rutherford built and opened the Nyack
Military Academy, which closed after his death in 1870. In 1876
William H. Bannister opened the school, which in 1878 was incor¬
porated under the regents of the State of New York as Rockland
College. It had a successful history lasting sixteen years, then was
closed. In the autumn of 1895 Captain Joel Wilson, who had con¬
ducted a successful military school at Newton, New Jersey, leased
the Rockland College Building and opened a military school here,
afterward naming it the Hudson River Military Academy. It
prospered at the same site for four years, at the end of which Cap¬
tain Wilson removed it to the handsome Tappan Zee Hotel prop¬
erty in South Nyack, which he leased for the purpose. The school
established, many years ago, a summer camp at Rye Beach. On
September 15, 1890, Elmer E. French came to Nyack and started
the Rockland Military Academy, which he headed for many years.
In September, 1901, E. Stanton Field opened the Nyack Military
Academy on what is known as the Hart property, north of the Bap¬
tist Church. Nyack has had still other private schools, including
the Missionary Institute of the Christian and Missionary Alliance,
situated on Nyack Heights, established in Nyack in 1896. The
public school system here is very active.

Piermont’s first schoolhouse was built early in the nineteenth
century. It stood on the east side of the creek, on the road to Pali¬
sades. The first building was replaced by a new one in 1845. A

ROCKLAND COUNTY

747

still larger school was erected in 1884 at a cost of $5,000. Tappan
Zee High School was a still later development. Later consolida¬
tions of school districts added to the system’s efficiency.

The Nanuet school is traceable back to 1812, when Abraham C.
Blauvelt was exempted from military duties, according to official
records, because he was a teacher. Rockland Lake had its first
public school in 1835, the ground on which the building stood being
donated by a Mr. Wells. A later school was built in 1850 on land

High School, Haverstraw

given by John D. Ascough, and in 1853 it became a free school, so
remaining until 1857, when the system was abolished in the dis¬
trict. New City’s educational system dates back to an early
period, the third school building having been erected in the county
seat in 1901, according to records. In Upper Nyack, School Dis¬
trict No. 9 was organized in 1844 and the first school building built
in 1845, twenty-seven years before the place was incorporated as a
village. Ramapo town records indicate that the early custom there
was for leading citizens to engage the services of a teacher for
the community and make the needed arrangements. Conditions
there were greatly improved by passage of the free school law of
1866.

748 SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

The Press

An important element in education, aside from the school, has
been the press. Early communication of news was accomplished
by heralds, or runners. The Indians sent out the swiftest runners
of their tribes to carry important tidings to neighboring villages
and tribes. News was formerly taken by horseback, too, and even
during the Revolutionary War swift riders kept distant wings of
the Colonial armies in touch with one another's activities. As indi¬
cated in an earlier chapter, relay messengers maintained contacts
between points as far apart as Rockland County and the Canadian
border. Stagecoach and boat were other methods of news-bearing.

From Boston, New York and Philadelphia the first American
newspapers came to Rockland, and the information carried on the
printed page was read aloud in front of taverns and in other pub¬
lic places. As local papers began to be published, Ezekiel Bur¬
roughs became the pioneer in this county by founding the Haver-
straw “Palladium” about 1812. It was discontinued after a short
time, and only in 1828 did Mr. Burroughs make the second venture
of the kind. In that year he founded the “Rockland Register,”
which two years later, in 1830, became the “Rockland Gazette.” In
May, 1833, J°hn Douglass started the “Rockland Advertiser” in
Haverstraw. In 1834 it was merged with the “Gazette” to form
the “Rockland Advertiser and Family Gazette.'’ In 1843 it was
published as the “Rockland News and General Advertiser'’ by John
L. Burtis. Other attempts to found papers failed, for these could
not successfully compete with the earlier one. One was the “North
River Times,” founded in 1834 by Alexander H. Wells. The other
was the “Mirror,” published briefly in 1838. All these publica¬
tions were small in format and were printed on early hand-presses.

In May, 1846, Robert Marshall started the “Rockland County
Messenger,” which, being larger than the others, was called a
“blanket sheet,’’ having become enlarged to almost unwieldy dimen¬
sions to accommodate its more numerous advertisements. Success¬
ful to the point of crowding all its competitors out of business, it
was purchased in 1852 by Robert Smith, who conducted it in such
a way as to triumph over all opposition for forty years. Competi¬
tors perished for want of patronage until, in 1889, the “Rockland
County Times,” owned and edited by Michael McCabe, came into

ROCKLAND COUNTY

749

being. He was fearless in expressing and fighting for his convic¬
tions, and the paper that he founded still continues in the McCabe
family, William J. McCabe being the proprietor of this Haver-
straw publication. The “Messenger” also continues as a weekly
newspaper in Haverstraw. After being long and successfully pub¬
lished by Robert Smith, it was taken over by W. W. Freyfogel,
and it later passed into the hands of Mrs. Mary E. Freyfogel, who
is the proprietor at the time of writing.

In Spring Valley the “Leader” and the “Sentinel” came into
existence late in the nineteenth century. Founded in 1893, the

Suffern Free Library

“Rockland County Leader” continues here. (See page 753.) In
Suffern two newspapers were established — the “Recorder,” under
the ownership of Helmle Brothers, of Nyack, and the “Independ¬
ent,” which today is owned by Charles A. Pace and continues as a
weekly paper, the “Ramapo Valley Independent."

In Nyack the “Rockland County Journal” was started on
August 7, 1850, under the editorship of William G. Haeselbarth.
The first number was printed in New York City, but an office was
soon set up in Nyack. It was a four-page paper of regular “blanket
sheet” size. Robert Carpenter was the first printer of the paper,
and the political policy of the paper was Democratic. Mr. Haesel¬
barth, the editor, was a poet and writer, particularly gifted in

750

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

satire, and had an intimate knowledge of local history' and politics.
In 1 86 1 the paper became Republican.

On May 19, 1859, the “City and Country” was started in Nyack
by Robert Carpenter, printer of the “Journal,” with quarters at
the rear of the Reformed Church. He got his press and materials
from the publishers of a short-lived paper, the “Rockland County
Democrat,” which had been printed outside the county. Mr. Car¬
penter's first number was called “The People’s Advocate,” but the
name soon became “City and Country.” Briefly, William Wirt
Sikes, a man of literary gifts, was associated with the enterprise,
but Mr. Carpenter resumed full control in 1861.

From i860 to 1870 amateur journalism flourished in Nyack,
where appeared the “Ray of Light,” published by J. Bolingbroke
Reynolds for two numbers only; “The Boys’ and Girls’ Monthly,”
a magazine started by William B. Corning and continued only for
some months ; the “Home Cabinet,” another of Mr. Coming’s ven¬
tures, which lasted for a year or two; the “Monthly Visitor,”
edited by C. A. Morford, Jr. ; and others. All of these were of
short duration, and were printed in the offices of the two larger
papers. Some talented writers of both prose and poetry con¬
tributed to these different Nyack publications.

About 1876 M. F. Onderdonk established a job printing office
in the Onderdonk block, Nyack. He printed at lower rates than
his competitors, and the result was a lowering of printing prices.
Soon afterward Mr. Onderdonk started the “Rockland Adver¬
tiser,” the first number of which appeared in February, 1879. It
was Nyack’s third newspaper of more durable character, continu¬
ing nearly ten years. It was bought in February, 1880, by Horace
Greeley Knapp, who enlarged and improved it, while Mr. Onder¬
donk remained its printer. It now was called the “Advertiser and
Chronicle.” Martin Knapp was at first associate editor. He was
succeeded by R. H. Fenton, who served for the rest of the year
and helped give the paper a firm foothold in the community. When
Mr. Fenton withdrew to rejoin “City and Country,” Martin Knapp
again became associate editor. W. H. Blakeney soon bought the
office from Onderdonk, and Martin Knapp was in full charge as
editor for Mr. Blakeney for a time. H. G. Knapp, his son, had
meanwhile withdrawn from the business. This paper was politi-

ROCKLAND COUNTY 751

cally independent. The price was $1.00 per year. In September,
1.88 1, it was bought by Lafayette Markle and renamed the
“Chronicle.”

The sudden death of Robert Carpenter, October 13, 1880, left
his family in charge of “City and Country,” an arrangement that
continued until January 1, 1881, when Joseph J. Hart, of Upper
Nyack, purchased the establishment, taking in a printer, E. C.
Fisk, as a nominal partner. Under the new management the paper
was somewhat improved and its subscription list increased. A new

Y.M.C.A., Nyack

power press was provided in place of the old Hoe hand press then
in use.

Soon after the sale of the “Advertiser and Chronicle” to Mr.
Blakeney, Walter H. Shupe, a lawyer, published the “Columbian,”
which was printed by Mr. Onderdonk. After a brief period as a
fighting editor, Mr. Shupe failed in his effort and returned to New
York. At that same period the Rev. William Stout published
“Church and Home,” a monthly religious paper, from the Onder¬
donk office. Nyack then had a total of five publications. The next
was the “Independent Advertiser,” of temperance leanings, edited
by John V. Onderdonk and printed in the office of his son, M. F.
Onderdonk, in 1882. It was taken over by Millard F. Onderdonk

752

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

in 1885. The “Rockland County Journal” had, meanwhile,
changed hands. In 1867 it was owned by Richard P. Eells, who.,
though not a newspaper man, acquired the plant because he had
previously backed it financially. In that year he sold it to John
Charlton, who had been a reporter on San Francisco daily news¬
papers and who now remained in charge of the “Journal” for
about seventeen years. Dr. Frank B. Green then bought the print¬
ing office and assumed the editorship. Dr. Green, who was author
of a history of Rockland County, suffered an illness that required
him to take an ocean voyage and leave the paper in other hands.
In December, 1883, Joseph J. Hart withdrew from “City and
Country” and left E. C. Fisk in full charge. Mr. Fisk proved
unable to cope with the problems involved, whereupon the Rock¬
land County Publishing Company took , over the enterprise and
placed a Mr. Page in charge. Soon it was sold to Colonel C. C.
Messervey, a westerner, who made Fisk his foreman for a brief
period. Colonel Messervey improved the paper’s news coverage
and enlarged it to “blanket size.”

Mr. Markle, of the “Chronicle,” died October 15, 1888, and on
October 18, the same year, Colonel Messervey died. R. H. Fen¬
ton conducted the “Chronicle” thereafter through the election
period. Joseph T. Kelly was editor of “City and Country” through
Colonel Messervey’s illness, but on November 12, 1888, William
R. Thompson, of Spring Valley, purchased it. The “Chronicle”
was sold to Austin Decker on November 21, and then to A. C.
Haeselbarth on December 6. Mr. Haeselbarth, son of the founder
of the “Journal,” had been placed in charge of the “Journal” by the
company that owned it, and through his purchase of the “Chroni¬
cle” a rival was done away with. In December, 1888, J. T. Kelly
leased the “Independent Advertiser,” enlarged it and renamed it
the “Rockland County Democrat.” M. F. Onderdonk remained
as foreman for a year.

On May 6, 1889, Nyack’s first daily paper, the “Evening Jour¬
nal,” was started from the “Journal” office by Mr. Haeselbarth.
It was issued every afternoon and sold for two cents a copy and
later for one cent. After a time it eclipsed the weeklies. Later
another daily was started, with the result that the two had the
field almost to themselves for a time. On January 1, 1890, Frank

ROCKLAND COUNTY

753

P. Demarest purchased the “Democrat,” of which Mr. Kelly
remained editor and publisher. On January i, 1891, A. C. Haesel-
barth withdrew from the “Journal,” which was sold to Helmle
Brothers, practical newspaper men from Brooklyn, who gave the
paper a metropolitan air under the, editorship and direction of
George B. Helmle. Aaron W. Van Keuren, who had been with
the paper for more than twenty years as a writer, remained to
contribute of his extensive experience in town affairs.

In 1892 Mr. Haeselbarth induced William R. Thompson, of
“City and Country,” to start a second evening daily, the “Nyack
Evening Star,” which appeared June 27, that year, under Mr.
Haeselbarth’s editorship. The weekly “Democrat” gradually
declined and failed, and the plant equipment was shipped to Haver-
straw after the sheriff closed its doors. The “Mirror,” a sixteen-
page literary paper edited by Theodore Moore and issued from the
“Democrat” office in 1891, lasted but a few months. Other ven¬
tures included a monthly religious journal of the Christian and
Missionary Alliance, edited by the Rev. A. B. Simpson and printed
in their own printing house on Nyack Heights; also the “Orange-
town News.”

Present Publications

Haverstraw — The “Rockland County Messenger,” a weekly
Republican paper, published every Thursday under the editorship
of Miss D. L. Masterjohn, is issued by the Messenger Printing
Company. The “Rockland County Times,” a Democratic paper, is
published every Saturday, with William J. McCabe as editor and
publisher. Both of these papers have circulations of about 1,700.

Nyack — The “Journal News” is published every evening except
Sunday by the Landrock Publishing Company, and follows an
independent editorial policy under Walter E. Williams’ editorship.
Its circulation is 6,042.

Spring Valley — The “Rockland County Leader” is a Republi¬
can weekly newspaper, with a circulation of more than 3,600,
founded in 1893 by W. R. Sherwood, now welfare commissioner
of Rockland County, and now edited by his son, Leigh Sherwood.

754

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Pearl River — A monthly publication, the “American Small
Stock Farmer,” is published here by H. Kremers for the rabbit
industry. Edited by E. H. Stahl, it has a circulation of about
7,000. It was founded in 1917.

The “Orangetown Telegram,” also published in Pearl River, is
a weekly newspaper under the same ownership as the “Rockland
County Leader,” Spring V alley. It is a Republican journal, edited
by Leigh Sherwood, and has a circulation of 1,200.

Stiff 'em — The “Ramapo Valley Independent” continues as this
community’s paper. It has a Republican editorial policy, and its
publisher is LeRoy L. Smith and its editor is Lamson B. Smith.
Its circulation is around 1,800.

Mousey — The Mathilda Ziegler Publishing Company for the
Blind, Inc., publishes here the “Mathilda Ziegler Magazine for the
Blind.” The establishment of this unique institution, which prints
in Braille, constitutes an interesting chapter of Rockland journal¬
ism, to be found on page 736.

Other publications from nearby regions furnish reading mate¬
rial for Rocklanders. The New York metropolitan dailies, great
magazines of national and international circulation and a few
papers of more local character come within this category. Among
the Highland people, for instance, the “News of the Highlands,”
published at Highland Falls, in neighboring Orange County, by the
estate of the late F. T. Tripp, and edited by L. F. McCormick, is
widely read.

Medicine and Related Activities

Professional life has figured prominently in Rockland County
affairs. Numerous medical men and lawyers have served the
county down through the generations of its history, and these
professions are well represented in the different villages and com¬
munities today. In the seventeenth century, Harvey had just
started teaching in Europe the circulation of the blood, and so given
a new impulse to medical science, and many of the physicians
among the American colonists were clergymen who had received
this learning along with their ecclesiastical preparation. There were

ROCKLAND COUNTY

755

also regular practitioners of medicine. In early times it was the
custom to “read medicine” with an experienced physician rather
than to take courses at universities and world-famous clinics, and
the student often rode with his preceptor on the many country¬
side tours, both hazardous and difficult, of the old-time horse-and-
buggy doctor among his patients. Upon finishing an apprentice¬
ship, the student took one or two courses of lectures at a medical
college or even traveled abroad if he could afford to do so.

It is known that James Russell Lowell’s father, the Rev.
Charles Lowell, a clergyman educated in Edinburgh, Scotland, also
had a medical education, and, according to the account of Scudder,
“carried the gospel in one hand and bread and pills in the other.”
One old record confirming this combination of functions is found
in such statements as “Our pastor received a call in the midst of his
sermon and dismissed the congregation.”

Medical practice was much different in Colonial times than it
later became. In fact, the strenuous outdoor life that the first set¬
tlers led tended on the whole to build up and maintain health and
promote longevity. Occasionally an epidemic spread havoc. In
childbirth a trained midwife, scarcely ever a physician, was in
attendance. Cholera came once or twice to the shores of the Hud¬
son. Vaccination did not come into general use until the nineteenth
century to check the spread of smallpox. Yet the distance between
settlements tended to minimize contagion.

Rockland’s earliest physician on record, Dr. James Osborn,
came from England in 1730 and settled within the precinct of
Haverstraw, probably in the vicinity of present-day Stony Point.
His son, Dr. Richard Osborn, succeeded to his practice, and was
active in the service of Washington during the Revolution, after¬
ward resuming his practice in Stony Point and continuing until his
death in 1786. Contemporaneous with Osborn’s later years, Dr.
Jacob Outwater practiced in Tappan. He was succeeded by a son
and a grandson. Another physician was Dr. Jesse Coe, who died in
1825, aged twenty-five.

In the early nineteenth century Dr. Abram Cornelison prac¬
ticed in Clarkstown, near Clarksville. He was the first president
of the original (but short-lived) Rockland County Medical Society
in 1829. His son, Dr. Abram Dubois Cornelison, later practiced

756

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

in Haverstraw. He was secretary of the Rockland County Medi¬
cal Society in 1829. Dr. Mark Pratt, born in 1804, in Kent, Con¬
necticut, practiced in Haverstraw from 1833, when he came here,
until his death in 1875. Dr. William Govan began practicing- in
Stony Point in 1843 and also ran a drug store. There were also
Dr. Nelson A. Garrison, of Stony Point, and his son, Dr. N. A.
Garrison; Dr. John Heron Sullivan; Dr. William S. House, of
Haverstraw; Dr. John Perdue, also of Haverstraw; Dr. Herbert
B. Chambre, of Haverstraw; Dr. Henry Hasbrouck House, of
Rockland Lake; Dr. Reuben H. Owen, of Haverstraw; Dr.
Spenser Stephen Sloat; Dr. Stephen William Allen; Dr. Adolphus
Howland Wood, of Tomkins Cove and later of Ramapo; Dr.
Daniel L. Reeves, who succeeded him in Ramapo ; then, in succes¬
sion, Dr. Tuttle, Dr. Gerard B. Hammond and Dr. A. S. Zabri-
skie. Other noted names were Drs. Jacob S. Wigton, of Mousey;
John Demarest, of Spring Valley ; James J. Stephens, of Tappan;
Daniel Lake, of Hempstead; Isaac C. Haring; M. C. Hasbrouck;
Thomas Blanche Smith; George Andrew Mursick, of Nyack;
William Gillespie Stevenson; Moses C. Hasbrouck and his son,
Frank Hasbrouck, of Middletown; Charles Whipple, who prac¬
ticed in Haverstraw; Charles H. Masten, of Sparkill and Tappan;
Daniel F. Wemple, of Haverstraw; Caleb H. Austen, of Haver¬
straw; and many others.

Closely paralleling medical developments was the work of the
dental profession. Originally the surgical part of dentistry was
the work of the physician, though mechanical dentistry has been
a profession in itself for a much longer period. Drs. Miles Daven¬
port, of Haverstraw, and later of Nyack; George Wright Daven¬
port, of Nyack; H. C. Gilchrist, of Nyack; James E. Blauvelt, of
Nyack; R. H. Murray, G. S. Writer and J. T. Gilchrest, all of
Nyack; George F. Appleton and Emilio Vincent Marquez, of
Haverstraw; H. Vanderbilt, of Suffern; and John R. Crawford,
of Haverstraw ; these are a few of the early names in dentistry.

Hospitals and institutions for care of the sick were also mat¬
ters of later development for the most part. Nyack Hospital was
opened to receive patients January 1, 1900, after many years of
struggle to effectuate it. Since that time many other institutions
have been established here, including the great Rockland State

ROCKLAND COUNTY

757

Hospital, at Orangeburg, serving Rockland County and also the
boroughs of Bronx, Richmond and Manhattan, New York City.
Its facilities are tremendous, and the number of patients grew from
4,941 in 1937 to 6,141 in 1939. It is organized under the Depart¬
ment of Mental Hygiene. In Rockland, too, are the New York
State Reconstruction Home, at West Haverstraw, internationally
known for its treatment of crippled children ; Letchworth Village,
at Thiells, for the mentally deficient; and Summit Park Sana¬
torium, a county institution for treatment of tuberculosis patients.

Law

The law is an old and honored profession in Rockland County,
as elsewhere, figuring prominently here since the influence of
European civilization replaced that of the earlier American Indians.
As already indicated, the first governmental forms shaped them¬
selves around the judicial systems set up by the colonists to adjust
disputes and disagreements. Tappan was the judicial center
before the splitting of counties. Then, on the first Tuesday in
May, 1798, the year of the split, the first Court of Common Pleas
was held in New City, with John Suffern as first judge; Benjamin
Coe and James Perry as judges and Abraham Onderdonk as assist¬
ant judge. Lawyers whose names grace the court records of that
early period were Samuel Smith, Peter Ogilvie, John Oppie,
Thomas Smith, Robert Campbell, James Scott Smith, Jonathan
Pearsie, Jr., Charles Thompson, William A. De Peyster and Rob¬
ert Morris Ogden. Many other noted names followed, and with¬
out question members of the bar had a leading role in the upbuild¬
ing of the county and its institutions. The county today lists
among its inhabitants many prominent legal names, some of whom
are referred to elsewhere.

CHAPTER IX

7 he Lighter Side of Life

CHAPTER IX

The Lighter Side of Life

Many there are who, surfeited with city life, have come to
Rockland County to farm or to be in touch with the out-of-doors.
Others have settled here to pursue the arts or sciences or to estab¬
lish their own forms of social life in accordance with their own
ideas or principles. All have enjoyed and benefited from Rock¬
land’s rural or village life, whether on the river side of the county,
atop the Palisades, or in its rolling mid-part, or in the Bear Moun¬
tain area of the southern Highlands, or in the hillier west where
the Ramapos rise into what is now Palisades Interstate Park, one
of the beautiful natural playgrounds of the East.

The Palisades Interstate Park Commission was created by
compact between New York and New Jersey under Chapter 170,
Laws of 1937. It was to be a joint corporate municipal instru¬
mentality of these two states, empowered to take over and operate
the properties in the mountain park area. The compact was exe¬
cuted by the commissioners named in the law, including leading
figures in both states, and by Governors Herbert H. Lehman and
Harold G. Hoffman, on June 28, 1937, and consent of Congress
was granted by the Seventy-fifth Congress and approval of Presi¬
dent Franklin D. Roosevelt given August 19, 1937. Ten members
of the commission, five of them New Yorkers and five residents of
New Jersey, were named by the governors and confirmed by the
senates in their respective states, the term of office of the commis¬
sioners to be for five years, without salary. The duties of the com¬
mission were then described as to establish, enlarge, develop and
maintain Palisades Interstate Park lying in Rockland and Orange
counties, in New York State, and Bergen County, New Jersey.
The parks included were the Palisades, Hook Mountain, Blauvelt,
Harriman, Bear Mountain, Storm King and Tallman Mountain,

762

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

and the total park area amounted to 42,457 acres. Palisades Inter¬
state Park is known as the Region 8 of the New York State system,
there being eleven such divisions. Included in it are such historic
sites as the headquarters of Washington and Knox, the Stony
Point battlefield and Temple Hill.

In the more mountainous parts of Rockland, as well as through¬
out the county, a rare beauty of bird and floral life abounds. Bit¬
tern, heron, owl, humming-bird, indigo bunting, junco, kingbird
and kingfisher, thrush and finch and cardinal, cuckoo, cowbird and
crow, catbird and bluebird, titmouse and many kinds of warblers —
these are among the myriad types of birds to be seen by the atten¬
tive, winging and singing their way through Rockland skies.
Every kind of natural life and beauty is to be found here by the
earnest seeker, and brooks, streams and rivulets yield their gifts
alike to the fisherman’s art or to the desires of the simple nature-
lover as he makes his way along the paths, over the hills or among
Rockland’s denser thickets. Rockland lies in the very heart of the
region that has won for the Hudson designation as “the Rhine of
America,” for here the river shore beautifully links the Palisades
with the Highlands. In the Bear Mountain region many lakes dot
the parkland wildness, and Bear Mountain Trailside Museum pro¬
vides for those interested a quick glance at the panorama of human
and natural history. Around about are specimens of natural life.
And in the museum are maps of the old forts, the roads and trails
followed by the British in Revolutionary times.

Many are the sites of historical interest to be found throughout
Rockland. At the foot of the Timp, that high peak at the west end
of Dunderberg, lies Doodletown, named after the tradition that
the British sang here the then popular song, “Yankee Doodle,” in
derision of the residents of the neighborhood, or, as some authori¬
ties would have it, from the Dutch words “Dood” (meaning
“dead”) and “Dell” (“hollow”). In this part of the county, too,
the State reservation known as Stony Point Park marks the
battle site of General Wayne’s surprise attack and capture of
Stony Point Fort from the British. Just west of Mormontown
Road, on Cricket-town Road, is the boulder commemorating
the pause here of Wayne and his troops, where they spent that
calm evening of July 15, 1779, before the capture of that fort.

ROCKLAND COUNTY

763

Only the foundations of the old Springsteel house remain, but the
spring where the Colonial troops quenched their thirst still flows.

Throughout the county are many famous old inns and houses,
which have been mentioned. Other spots of historic or traditional
interest include Spook Rock, at the intersection of Spook Rock Road
and High View Avenue, north of Tallmans, where, embedded among
a pile of boulders is one bearing a bronze plaque. It is told that
for generations the Indians here offered sacrifices, one of which
was a white girl, daughter of a prominent settler, who was sup¬
posed to have been taken here and put to death. On the night of
this sacrifice, it is told, the girl’s form hovered phantomlike over
the rock, and when the Indians saw the apparition they fled in ter¬
ror, thinking- that they had offended the Great Spirit. Imaginative
souls sometimes still fancy that they see the maiden’s form hover¬
ing over the rock on dusky evenings when the lights of western
skies are low. The bronze plaque is fairly non-committal, reading
simply :

“To insure the preservation of Spook Rock as a pub¬
lic monument this plot of ground was donated to the Rock¬
land County Society by David Carlough .... July 23,

1931.”

In the Ramapo region, too, rises Torne Mountain, which
George Washington is reputed to have frequently climbed when
he was stationed in this area. It commanded a superb view of
New York Harbor, and here he could watch the movements of the
British fleet. One time he dropped his watch in a crevice here,
and legend holds that it can still be heard ticking. Ramapo Pass,
stretching northward fourteen miles from Suffern, winding for
ten miles among hills that leave room only for the Erie Railroad’s
main line and Route 17 of the highway system, furnished for the
colonists many years ago the only entry into the interior between
the Hudson and Delaware rivers. This “clove,” the Dutch name
for a hill pass, was also the route of the ancient stage line from
New York to Albany. In the pass were situated Fort Sidman,
Sidman’s Tavern and Sidman’s Bridge. It was when Colonel
Aaron Burr was stationed here with Malcolm’s regiment that he
dashed to and from Paramus to win the hand of Theodosia Pre-

764

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

vost, widow of the British colonel of that name. Between Mount
Ivy and Ladentown lies Camp Hill, where Continental troops
encamped and on the south side of which General Lafayette made
his headquarters for two weeks in a large house on the road just
north of present Route 202.

Throughout the county are many such points of interest for
the historically minded as well as for the naturalist. Despite the
modernizing of Rockland, these undying interests continue, not
only among residents whose families have lived here for genera-

■r-- - — -Hr-

Home of Helen Hayes, Nyack

tions, but among the newer Rocklanders who have chosen this
county as the scene of their lives and activities. Among these are
many literary and artistic celebrities, who have tended to group
themselves in colonies here and there throughout the county. New
City contains such a group. Nyack is another such center. Still
others are Palisades, Orangeburg and Sufifern. And many other
individual writers, artists, sculptors and musicians who find Rock¬
land convenient to their New York markets have settled here and
there throughout the county. Often these personalities, with their
warm love for the beautiful and human, have taken up their resi¬
dences in historic homes of Revolutionary fame or in regions
where the armies that made history once trod.

ROCKLAND COUNTY

765

Helen Hayes, actress, lives in a simple home in Nyack with her
famous husband, Charles MacArthur. His collaborator, Ben
Hecht, novelist and playwright, lives a few blocks away. The two
men have worked together on such dramatic productions as “Twen¬
tieth Century” and “The Scoundrel.” In New City lives Maxwell
Anderson, poet and playwright, who has here a beautiful woodland
home on the lower slopes of High Tor. Nearby are many artists,
writers and patrons of the arts. Henry Varnum Poor, one of
these, is a painter, sculptor and ceramist. Adolph Zukor, presi¬
dent of Paramount Pictures, is another near neighbor. Mary
Mowbray-Clarke has developed, under county direction, the beau¬
tiful Dutch Gardens, in New City. Former Postmaster-General
James A. Farley some years ago took up his home across High Tor
from this community, residing at Grassy Point, near Haverstraw.
Anthony H. G. Fokker, airplane designer, lives in the shadow of
Hook Mountain, in Upper Nyack, where some years ago he took
up experimenting with a revolutionary high-speed yacht. J. Du
Pratt White, who was chairman of the Palisades Interstate Park
Commission and chairman of the board of trustees of Cornell Uni¬
versity, also chose Upper Nyack as his home. In South Nyack
lives Stephen F. Voorhees, chairman of the board of design of the
World’s Fair 1939. Maurice Heaton, glass designer and colorist,
lives in West Nyack, as does Chris E. Olsen, undersea painter,
who executed the Hall of Ocean exhibits of the American Museum
of Natural History. In Orangeburg resides John Costigan, etcher.
At the Threefold Farm, near Spring Valley, the artist, Richard
Kroth, spends his summers. Ralph Borsodi, statistician and
economist, has headed a model housing development in this part of
the county. From the Suffern area comes Gloria Hollister, who
worked with Dr. William Beebe in studying undersea life. Daniel
Carter Beard, Boy Scout founder and leader, chose Suffern as his
home.

In Palisades, at that ancient ferrying-place, Sneden’s Landing,
live Katharine Cornell, actress, and her husband, Guthrie McClin-
tic, producer. Other residents here are Orson Wells, actor and
instigator a few years ago of that now historic radio nightmare
remembered as the invasion from Mars, from a story by H. G.
Wells. Also at Sneden’s Landing lives Robert W. Bruere, adviser

766 SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

to President Franklin D. Roosevelt on labor arbitration. Charles
Nessler, inventor of the permanent wave, lives in Palisades, and so
does Lemuel F. Parton, syndicated column writer. Lee Baker,
actor, lives in nearby Sparkill. Peter Holden, boy actor, comes
from Congers. At Sneden’s Landing, Thomas W. Lamont, part¬
ner in the J. P. Morgan banking firm, has an estate. In South
Nyack lives John C. Traphagen, head of the Bank of New York,
one of the Nation’s oldest financial houses. Leland Olds, execu¬
tive secretary of the New York State Power Authority, is from

Houvenkopf Country Club, Suffern

Grand View, near Nyack. The Rev. Howard Chandler Robbins,
Episcopal leader, lives in Palisades. Rockland has also produced
its share of athletes, including the swimmers, Elizabeth Ryan, of
Summit Park, and Gloria Callen, of Nyack. These are but a few
of the names of people of accomplishment from Rockland.

The beauty of outdoor life and natural surroundings here has
been mentioned. Reference has been made, too, to achievement in
athletic sports, facilities for which unquestionably abound. The
Hudson River is not only an historic stream of calm and majestic
splendor, but is and for generations has been a center of boating,
which remains one of the major recreations of residents of the
waterfront communities. Sailing, so necessary in the old days as a

ROCKLAND COUNTY

767

means of locomotion to New York and the other river communi¬
ties, has become increasingly popular as a sport in recent years,
and the river also boasts many motorboats. Rowing and even
canoeing are other aquatic sports that the Hudson affords, though
the special conditions of changing tide and flow make the canoe¬
ist’s task one that requires some knowledge and experience.
Camping, hiking, boating and tennis are other sports of Rockland
County. Swimming is encouraged in the Bear Mountain Park
area, and in winter the Bear Mountain ski hill brings great crowds
for skiing, tobogganing and skating. A few miles inland from
Bear Mountain is the Silver Mine ski tow, serving two ski trails,
intermediate and novice. From fall to spring Bear Mountain also
offers indoor skating. Many New Yorkers regularly swarm to the
park areas, particularly to Bear Mountain, Hook Mountain and
Tallman Mountain, where special regions have been developed for
recreational purposes. Hikers appear in great numbers on sum¬
mer weekends along the shorefront at the foot of the Palisades, and
motorists take every occasion to betake themselves to the wild¬
nesses of the Ramapos and Rockland’s mountains. George Wash¬
ington Bridge and Bear Mountain Bridge constantly carry swarms
of automobilists from the eastern side of the river into the Rock¬
land area.

Every kind of personality and talent seems represented in this
part of New York State. As in other communities, the Daugh¬
ters of the American Revolution, the Sons of the American Revo¬
lution and the Free and Accepted Masons have done much to pre¬
serve Revolutionary and other memories in the region. The Sons
and Daughters have done much to bring to the fore persons whose
ancestors served in the struggle for independence, and many hon¬
ored Rockland names are found in the ancestral rolls of these
organizations. As elsewhere, the Masons have preserved many
historic shrines or at least participated in their preservation. Other
fraternal and social organizations have had their role, too, in
Rockland developments. The American Legion, the Sea Scouts,
the Women’s Civic League of Nyack and other groups have helped
preserve memories that would otherwise be lost forever. And
Mrs. Mary Mowbray-Clarke, as director of the Dutch Gardens,
in New City, has even preserved a knowledge of Colonial gardens,

768

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

what flowers grew in them and how they were arranged and
planted.

Among other historic developments in this region, the last trial
for witchcraft in New York State was held in Rockland County.
In 1816 Hannah, or Jane, known as Naut KannifF, who lived west
of the old Clarkstown Church, was tried for witchcraft, taken to
Polhemus’ gristmill, and subjected to rigorous “tests.” Placed in
one dish of the great flour scales there, she was weighed against the
great wooden-covered iron-bound Holland Bible, with its carrying
chain, which were placed in the other dish, and when she was
found to outweigh the Book she was pronounced innocent and
freed.

A form of “communism” was tried in Rockland, too, early in
the nineteenth century. It was in 1824 that Robert Owen, cele¬
brated freethinker on social issues, came to the United States and
gave a series of lectures on “Communism.” He had already
founded his own colony, which eventually went to pieces because
the qualities of the people chosen to constitute it never squared with
his ideals. None the less, he found many supporters, and several
communities were started in different places, among them one in
Haverstraw, the so-called “Haverstraw Community,” in 1826.
The founders were: a Mr. Fay, an attorney; Jacob Peterson;
George Houston, of New York; and Robert L. Jennings, of Phila¬
delphia. The aims were “to better the condition of themselves and
their fellowmen, which they believed could be done by living in
community, having all things in common, giving equal rights to
each, and abolishing the terms ‘mine and thine.’ ” They purchased
from John I. Suffern about 130 acres of land, on which were two
houses, twelve or fourteen outbuildings, one sawmill and a rolling
and slitting mill. The price was $18,000. Of this sum, $6,000
was paid and the rest was secured by mortgage. To raise the
$6,000 and defray other expenses, Jacob Peterson advanced $7,000
and another individual advanced $300, while other sums were sub¬
scribed to the enterprise, some as low as $10. They declared
money, land and everything as common stock for the society’s
benefit, and founded a “Church of Reason” where they held meet¬
ings every Sunday and heard lectures on morals, philosophy, agri¬
culture and other topics, without ever subscribing to any religious

ROCKLAND COUNTY

769

confession of faith. New members were admitted by ballot. No
formal rules or regulations were ever written down, but unwrit¬
ten by-laws and guides of conduct were framed, and, according to
indications, were matters of frequent disagreement. The commu¬
nity eventually failed, whether from bad management or worse
faults it is not clear ; and the extent of the failure was indicated in
the fact that Jacob Peterson, who had put $7,000 into the project,
recovered only $300. One member of this community afterward
commented: “We wanted men and women of skillful industry,
sober and honest, with a knowledge of themselves, and a disposi¬
tion to command, and to be commanded, and not men and women
whose sole occupation was to parade and talk.” Such a statement
may or may not present a clue to the failure of the “Haverstraw
Community.”

Since then other “communities” have been established in Rock¬
land, whether for economic purposes, or for the promotion of one
or another way of thinking or living, or for the furtherance of
political theories. But it is generally clear that “isolation” is no
longer possible. No such community can successfully separate
itself wholly from the outside world without running afoul of the
fact that human beings live in what Wendell Willkie called “one
world.” No more than a nation can be separated from the family
of nations can Rockland or any other county be insulated from
neighboring counties and states and the influences of the great
“outside world.”

S.E.N.Y. — 49

—

. -

•

‘

• -

CHAPTER X

Conclusion

- __

—

CHAPTER X

Conclusion

Rocklanders have fine reason to be proud of their county.
George H. Budke, historian of the Rockland County Society, has
written that the “most important contribution the inhabitants of
this county ever made to the United States of America was the part
they played in the war of the Revolution.” As he added, “That
part was not anything they took upon themselves, for our ancestors
were not seeking martyrdom any more than ourselves.” Yet indi¬
vidual Rockland people have, through the generations, during the
Revolution and afterward, taken upon themselves many under¬
takings, works that have not merely been “thrust upon them” but
which they have chosen out of their own initiative to perform. It
is out of these individual efforts, contributions and achievements,
freely initiated by the men and women themselves, as individual
human beings, that the real history of Rockland is composed. Time
was when the activities of leading families alone constituted his¬
tory, and all else followed them. With the passage of time indi¬
vidual personalities have tended ever more and more to step out of
the background of family and group and class and move into areas
of individual accomplishment. Families whose members possessed
particular and characteristic talents once conducted industries, or
were perhaps famous through generations for attainment in cer¬
tain crafts, as in the case of the families of shipbuilders, brewers,
glassblowers and so on. Only a few purely family occupations per¬
sist as such today, as individual achievement in industry and else¬
where emerges. This change, basic and revolutionary in human
nature, lighting and coloring external patterns of achievement, is
seen to constitute the real history of a region if one carefully
observes the biographies of men against the rich tapestry of fam¬
ily, group and organizational life that is their background, the indi¬
viduals now merging with the general scene, now standing out in

774

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

vivid or even startling contrast. In this panoramic picture, pass¬
ing before the “mind’s eye,’’ history is perceived.

The history of Rockland County thus takes on the character of
its men and women, its families, its industrial, social and cultural
organizations. In the villages and the rural communities this his¬
tory is contained : Tappan, dating back to the seventeenth century,
famed for the revolutionary declarations contained in the Orange-
town Resolutions on July 4, 1774; Nyack, of similar age and
antiquity, named after the Nyack Indian tribe who sold Coney

A Residential Section, Suffern

Island in 1659 for “fifteen fathoms of seawan, two guns, three
pounds of black powder and some shot”; Spring Valley, the “Vale
of Springs,” which had no existence before the Erie Railroad
came in 1841 ; Suffern, once called “Point of the Mountains” or
“Sidman’s Clove,” purchased in 1773 by a young Irishman, John
Suffern, whose efforts to have it renamed “New Antrim” were
unsuccessful; Tomkins Cove, so named after Daniel Tomkins, of
Newark, New Jersey, anchored his sloop in the cove in 1838 and
purchased land from John Crom, who had been a lime kiln opera¬
tor in the region from 1789; Sloatsburg, whose first white land-
owner was Wynant Van Gelder, buyer of property from the

ROCKLAND COUNTY

775

Ramapo Indians in 1738; Haverstraw, including much more than
the present village, purchased from the Indians by Belthaza De
Harte and left by him in a will dated January 4, 1672, to his brother
Jacobus; Pearl River, first settled by Louis Post, who received a
grant from King George III of England; and many smaller com¬
munities and districts, each house and farm and factory with its
special story.

People of many nations and cultures have come to Rockland
and blended with this historic background, creating new life and
new history. Systems of traffic, travel and communication have
revolutionized the life of the county. Each innovation has brought
its unavoidable disadvantages, and these in turn have had to be
eliminated, as, for instance, grade-crossing dangers. Community
planning organizations have taken steps to “zone” the different dis¬
tricts for building purposes and to provide, wherever possible, har¬
monious architectural schemes to meet the esthetic requirements
of Rockland people. Civic centers, public buildings, parks and
playgrounds have arisen. Schools have been expanded and
improved. Sewers, water supply systems and street fixtures have
been kept in good order and brought to the highest level of effi¬
ciency. Real estate interests have developed many special colo¬
nies and subdivisions in residential Rockland. And vacation
regions have been appropriately developed and care for.

Rockland now looks forward, after sending many of its sons
and daughters and putting much of its wealth into the service of
the Nation in two world wars, to a hoped-for era of peace and
productivity after the international holocaust has subsided. Plans
are being laid by individual Rockland citizens and by organized
groups to meet admittedly changing conditions and mould what is
still a questionable future. With characteristic conviction and will,
these leaders are laying the groundwork on which will be erected
the edifice of the future. They are moulding the shape of things
to come.

— - —

Southeastern New York •

Putnam County

By JVillitt C. Jewell

=====

—

■mm

Preface

Putnam County, the picturesque section of New York State
lying between the Hudson Highlands and the Connecticut State
line, bounded on the south by- Westchester County and the north
by Dutchess, and frequently referred to as “the Switzerland of
America,” has as interesting an historical background as the serv¬
ice record of that illustrious general of the American Revolution,
Israel Putnam, in whose memory the county was named.

The early history of the section now Putnam County, from the
time the first white man gazed on its natural beauty in 1609, then
unmarred by human hands, to 1886 was most completely covered
by that renowned historian, William S. Pelletreau, in his history
of Putnam County. Copies of this history are in the public libraries
and it is the most prized volume in the collection of books that com¬
prise the libraries of most of the older families of the county today.
In concluding his preface Mr. Pelletreau says : “He ventures to
hope that his labor will be appreciated long after he is dust, and
that whosoever attempts a similar task, in the future, will accept
his base although they may enlarge his building.”

It is the purpose of this history to carry on from where Mr.
Pelletreau concluded, to the present time, a period of nearly sixty
years. During these three decades many physical changes have
taken place, one generation has come and gone, our modes of travel
and communication have advanced, our educational system has
been completely revised and, lastly, our agricultural pursuits have
given way to the development of a community of country homes,
gentlemen’s estates, country clubs and the suburban residential
mecca for people of the metropolitan area, which is destined to
become the playground of the metropolis in the not too distant
future.

782

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

It is a genuine privilege and signal honor that has been given
me to attempt to carry on the history of Putnam County from Mr.
Pelletreau’s day to the present time. The early history, therefore,
will be reviewed only briefly in order to cj.evote as much space as
possible to the period since 1886. This work could not have been
completed without the assistance of the members of the Advisory
Council and several of the older residents of the county to whom
acknowledgment and thanks are extended.

The writer has found the work enjoyable and fascinating and,
if the material assembled proves of some value to the reader, to
future generations and other historians, he will feel that the labor
has been worth while and that the time consumed has not been in

vam.

Willitt C. Jewell.

CHAPTER I

Early History

CHAPTER I

Early History

Early history records the fact that the land along the east side
of the Hudson River, including the section that later became Put¬
nam County, was inhabited by Indians when the first white man
arrived. A numerous train of adventurers followed the trail the
great Columbus had made to the New World, many failed and
returned while others met disaster. After two unsuccessful expe¬
ditions financed by a London company had been made by Henry
Hudson, he enlisted the support of the Amsterdam Directors in
Holland, who fitted out a small vessel called the “Half-Moon,” and
placed Hudson in command. He sailed from Texel with a crew of
twenty on May 6, 1609, and arrived upon our shores and entered
the Bay of New York September 12, 1609, as a new discoverer.
Continuing his voyage he sailed for 150 miles up the river that
bears his name and as far as is known was the first white man to
gaze upon the Highlands of the Hudson and mountain slopes of
western Putnam County.

Hudson returned to Holland and several expeditions were made
by others during the next decade. Forts and trading posts were
established, first at New Amsterdam, now New York, and Fort
Orange, now Albany. As the danger from the Indians decreased,
tenants settled along the river between these points. The first step
usually taken by a person who wished to procure a grant of land
from the Colonial government was to obtain from the Governor
a license to purchase the desired tract from the native occupants
of the soil. The first persons who thus made application for the
land now embraced within Putnam County were Lambert Dorlandt
and Jan Sybrant and from the Indians they obtained a deed on

S.E.N.Y. — 50

786

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

July 15, 1691, for the western part of the present Putnam County,
the deed bearing the names of seven Indians.

In 1697 these men sold all their right to the premises to Adolph
Philipse, a wealthy merchant of New York, and in this way began
the ownership of all the land that now comprises Putnam County,
by the famous family whose name and deeds form an important
part of the early history of this county and State. Adolph Philipse

General Israel Putnam, After Whom the County was Named

obtained a patent for all the land embraced between the present
Dutchess and Westchester counties from the east shore of the
Hudson River to a point twenty miles east from the river and, in
1702, to confirm his title he procured an Indian release. This tract
was known as the Highland Patent and remained in possession of
Adolph Philipse until his death in 1749 and the estate descended
to his nephew, Frederick Philipse, who died in 1751, and whose
estate was afterward divided into three equal shares among his
children. The deeds reserved all the mining and mineral rights.

PUTNAM COUNTY

787

The eastern boundary of the Philipse Patent adjoined the Oblong’s
western boundary, this line running nearly north and south, and
passing through the center of Peach Pond.

Two of the children of Frederick Philipse married men who
remained loyal to the British Crown. One was Susannah, who
married Colonel Beverly Robinson. His estate in Philipstown was
an object of interest and curiosity. He was implicated in the trea¬
son plans of Benedict Arnold and went to England after the Revo¬
lution, never to return. The other, Mary Philipse, according to
tradition, was one of the most beautiful and fascinating women of
her time and numbered among her worshiping adorers no less a
personage than the illustrious Washington. At length she mar¬
ried Colonel Roger Morris, a man of social prominence, who also
supported the efforts of the British Crown during the Revolution.

When final triumph came to the Colonists, the State passed an
act of attainder confiscating the property of the most prominent
of the loyalists. Under this Act the State took the property of
Colonel Roger Morris and wife and Beverly Robinson and wife,
had it surveyed and sold it. The report of the sale with the names
of the purchasers was dated August 30, 1788. These sales car¬
ried the undivided shares of the mineral rights belonging to the
loyalist owners, but did not include the outstanding one-third of
the mineral rights belonging to Philip Philipse, who was not
attainted. The two-thirds of the mineral rights which the State
acquired in the lands of Philip Philipse were eventually released by
the State to the several purchasers of the fee.

The children of Roger Morris petitioned the State Legislature
in 1787, presenting their claims and praying for relief, as the title
the State gave to the purchasers could not affect the title of the
children of Morris. It was referred to a committee. In 1807 a
petition was presented to the Legislature by Enoch Crosby and
others, calling attention to this fact and praying that steps might
be taken to quiet these claims, but no action was taken. In 1809
John Jacob Astor purchased from the children of Roger Morris
all their right to the lands in question. After the death of Mary
Morris in 1825, a suit was started in the United States Court by
Mr. Astor. It came to trial November' 7, 1827. The court found
in favor of Astor. It was appealed to the United States Supreme

788

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Court and judgment sustained. On April 5, 1832, an Act was
passed “authorizing and directing the final settlement of the claim”
by paying Astor $450,000 with interest and thus ended the case
that had troubled Putnam County and the State so long.

The eastern portion of Putnam County was the southern part
of a strip of land known as the Oblong, one and three-fourths
miles and twenty rods wide adjoining Connecticut. This was also
known as the “equivalent lands.” It appears that the English Col¬
ony of Connecticut kept pushing its settlements along the shore of
the Sound, encroaching, so to speak, upon the Dutch Colony of New
Amsterdam. With the establishment of English rule in the Prov¬
ince of New York, a controversy arose as to boundary lines between
New York and Connecticut. In 1683 delegates from Connecticut
conferred with Governor Dongan and the New York Council rela¬
tive to settling the boundary. The New York Council insisted on the
New York-Connecticut boundary being twenty miles east of the
Hudson, parallel with the river to the Massachusetts line. All that
the Connecticut representatives could obtain was permission to
retain the settlements they had made on the Sound in exchange for
an equal tract further north. This plan was approved and when the
equivalent areas were eventually agreed upon, after overcoming
many “Yankee tricks” and controversies, the equivalent lands were
a strip one and three-fourths miles and twenty rods wide taken
from the west side of Connecticut to its northern boundary. Thus
the eastern boundary of Dutchess County, and the line between
New York and Connecticut was established and mapped in 1732.
The equivalent lands lying east of the Philipse Patent became
known as the Southeast Precinct and were rapidly settled. The
eastern line of the equivalent lands was marked every two miles
and, in i860, New York commissioners surveyed and marked the
line as fixed by the survey of 1731, with posts. In 1879 commis¬
sioners of New York and Connecticut finally agreed upon this
boundary, which is the boundary today between Putnam County
and Connecticut.

The line between Dutchess and Putnam counties was not fixed
when Putnam County became a separate county in 1812, but in
1832 an Act was passed for the Surveyor-General to survey and
mark the boundary. Three lines were proposed, one of which was

PUTNAM COUNTY

789

the line due east from the mouth of the Fishkill Creek to the Con¬
necticut line. A resolution of the board of supervisors of Dutchess
County a little later states that the line is generally known and
there was no need of voting any money to locate it. Consequently
it was never marked by monuments.

The boundary between Westchester and Putnam was the pre¬
vious boundary line between Dutchess and Westchester. This line
appears to be somewhat confused at the present date and in recent
years attempts have been made by the board of supervisors to have
it surveyed at the joint expense of the two counties.

March 14, 1806, an Act of the Legislature became law annex¬
ing all that part of Philipstown north of the west line beginning
by the north river at the southwesterly end of Breakneck Hill and
running north fifty-two degrees east to the dividing line between
Philipstown and Fishkill, to the town of Fishkill. It is this change
that causes the northwest corner of Putnam County to appear to be
cut off as it really is.

Indian Inhabitants — As previously stated when the first white
man arrived, he found the land that comprises Putnam County
inhabited by Indians, a race whose origin is wrapped in utter
obscurity. Varied speculations as to their origin have been
advanced, but for us it is sufficient to record that the red man did
live here and was in absolute possession of the land. They have
long since passed away. As late as 1811 a small band had their
dwelling place on a low tract of land by the side of a brook under
a high hill in the northern part of the town of Kent near the site
of Shaft 8 of the present Delaware Aqueduct, but they, too,
smoked their last pipe of peace over a century ago, leaving with
us only the shadow of a name and a few buried relics that have
been and are still occasionally found in excavations up to the
present time, to attest to their one time existence.

The Indians in this section were members of the Wappingers
tribe, a division of the Mohicans. They were divided into chief¬
taincies and one of their principal villages was Canopus, located in
a valley in the present town of Putnam Valley and known as
Canopus Hollow. They also had other settlements, one of which
was at Lake Mahopac. As the white man secured grants of land,

790

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

the Indians were gradually driven from the fertile soil of the val¬
leys and upon their return after the Revolution, in which they fought
on the side of the Colonists, there was no place in which they could
stay in peace and they were elbowed out of all except the rocks and
morasses. They were destitute and aided by sympathizing whites,
and controversies arose that long disturbed the frontiers of Put¬
nam County.

The Indians sought relief in the courts to regain their title and
finally a group headed by that notable Indian sachem, Chief Daniel
Nimham, went to England, but without success.

Chief Nimham and sixty of his warriors joined the American
forces in the Revolution and fought with a bravery and valor
worthy of their ancient race in the days of their glory. They made
their last stand against the British in one of the most hotly con¬
tested struggles of the war at Tibbets Brook near Kings Bridge.
The battle took place in Augfist, 1778, and after being greatly out¬
numbered and all hope of further successful resistance gone, Chief
Nimham called out to his people to flee, but as for himself said :
£T am an aged tree, I will die here.”

From the aircraft observation tower situated on the land of
Drew Seminary south of Carmel village, used by the Aircraft
Warning Service of the Army during 1942-43, a panorama of the
surrounding countryside discloses three lofty mountains to the
northwest. The middle peak, the highest in Putnam County with
an elevation of 1,426 feet, upon which a ninety-foot fire tower was
erected by the State Conservation Commission in 1940, and com¬
monly known as Smalley Mountain and Zachariah’s Lookout, was
given the name of the last sachem of the tribe that once ruled all
the land that can be seen from its summit and we renew here the
trust of the historian Pelletreau “that in honor of his valor, and of
the faith sealed with his blood, on the field where he fought for the
liberty of America, it will bear to all future time the name of
Mount Nimham.”

Early Settlement and Population — Individuals began to settle
on the land now embraced in Putnam County about 1720 accord¬
ing to two reliable authorities. A report of the assessors in 1723,
lists the inhabitants, residents and freeholders together with the

PUTNAM COUNTY

791

assessment of each in pounds. There are only fifty persons listed.
In the statement of Daniel Nimham, an Indian sachem, presented
to the Governor and Council, in 1765, it is stated that about forty
years before, sundry persons began to settle upon the land as ten¬
ants of Adolph Philipse, and it also seems that some whites were
settlers on the land as tenants of the Indians themselves. It^eems
to be well established that as early as 1740 there were quite a num¬
ber of inhabitants. The fact that when the survey and division of
the patent were made in 1754 an “old meeting house” was men¬
tioned as a landmark, would indicate a population sufficiently large
to establish a church. This church stood opposite the Ellis ceme¬
tery, a short distance west of the point where Route 6 at the pres¬
ent time crosses the Tilly Foster Reservoir. Later this church soci¬
ety built a church near the Gilead burying ground south of Carmel
and it is mentioned in the survey of 1762. In 1835 this society
purchased the site for a new church in the village of Carmel and in
1836 dedicated a new church which stood on the site of the present
Gilead Presbyterian Church.

Probably the first church of the Presbyterian Society was about
one mile east of Dykemans Station. It was a small log building
and Rev. Elisha Kent was installed as pastor in 1743 and it soon
gained the name of “Kent’s Parish.” Previous to 1761 this church
was abandoned and another church had been erected near the site
of the present one known today as the Old Southeast Church at
Doanesburgh.

The inhabitants were Englishmen who came from Connecticut
and Long Island, while about 1740 a large number of families
emigrated to this region from Cape Cod. It appears from early
records that the rugged and mountainous nature of the western
part of the county did not attract settlers as readily as the fertile
valleys of the eastern section and it was, therefore, some years later
before the population of the present town of Philipstown showed
any great number.

Lands in the tract called the Oblong next to the Connecticut
line were speedily settled, it is said, because lands could be pur¬
chased with an indisputable title. An affidavit of Timothy Shaw,
in 1767, who lived at the north end of Lake Gleneida, then known
as Shaw’s Pond, stated that there were upwards of three hundred

792

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

settlers as tenants of the Philipse family before 1756. Among
those listed are many old and well known family names, descend¬
ants of some of whom are residents here now, nearly two hundred
years later. The family names listed in 1756 include the follow¬
ing: Tompkins, Townsend, Dickenson, Sprague, Hill, Hughson,
Fieldf, Wright, Paddock, Robinson, Smith, Crosby, Crane, Foster,
Ryder, Kelley, Fowler, Hopkins, Barnum, Ludington, Cole, Hazen,
Hamlin and many others.

It is evident that the county grew rapidly during the last half
of the eighteenth century and continued its growth during the next
seventy-five years as will be seen from the following census rec¬
ords. The population of Putnam County in 1790 was listed as
8,932; 1800, 9,896; 1810, 10,293; 1820, 11,268; 1830, 12,638;
1840, 12,825; 1850, 14,138; i860, 14,001; 1875, 15,799-

About i860 the City of New York began the acquisition of land
for its extensive Croton Water Supply System in the eastern part
of the county. This continued until 1910, during which period the
city acquired by purchase and condemnation nearly six thousand
acres of the choice farm land lying for varying distances on both
sides of the three main natural streams of water in the townships
of Carmel, Kent and Southeast.

As these lands were to be flooded by the waters of the reser¬
voirs, the farmers had to secure new farms in sections of the
townships not taken by the city, or perhaps move to more elevated
parts of their farms that were not acquired. The number of good
farms remaining were limited and many of the agriculturists
retired and built homes in the nearby villages and in some cases
engaged in other lines of business. It might be said here that as
the white man elbowed the Indians from their wigwam homes in
Putnam County, so the City of New YYrk, through necessity of pro¬
viding the growing metropolis with an ample supply of pure water,
drove the white men from the fertile valleys upon which their cat¬
tle grazed, fields of produce were raised and their homes located,
to the more elevated and rocky hillsides in the vicinity.

It requires some stretch of the imagination for the present
generation, who live by turning a switch, moving a lever or push¬
ing a button, to visualize the hardships their ancestors endured as
they pioneered in settling Putnam County. However, all of these

PUTNAM COUNTY

793

modern conveniences, including the telephone, automobiles, elec¬
tric lights, radio, etc., have come to Putnam County since the start
of the twentieth century.

Early settlers first began tilling the soil and agriculture con¬
tinued as the chief occupation, with milk production for the New
York market taking the lead up to about 1930. Cattle raising for
the market preceded the milk production era and continued for a
century from the time Daniel Drew made it famous in 1820. A
small number of cattle, however, are still shipped from this county,
particularly calves. So extensive was the milk production in Put¬
nam in the early part of this century that there were six milk
receiving plants serving the eastern half of the county. Milk from
the farms in Putnam Valley and Philipstown was and still is col¬
lected by truck and taken to receiving depots in Peekskill or north
into Dutchess County. In 1931 there were about five thousand six
hundred head of cattle on Putnam County farms producing about
forty-five thousand quarts of milk a day.

With ample water-power available along the main streams,
many mills were erected during the early days. One of the first
was the Ludington mill at Ludingtonville, which was said to have
been built in 1776, and where grain was prepared for the use
of the soldiers of the Revolution. However, on the map of Ben¬
jamin Morgan, survey of 1762, a mill at this point is listed as
the mill of T. H. Carter. Of the many mills, most of which are
mentioned in the chapters which follow, the Ludington mill alone
remains today as evidence of an industry in the county that is only
a memory.

Mining gave employment to many people in Philipstown, Put¬
nam Valley, Kent and Southeast during a part of the last half of
the nineteenth century, but was discontinued some years before
1900.

Other localized industries, past and present, are noted in the
industry chapter.

Establishment of Putnam County — Putnam was the forty-
sixth county to be erected in the Empire State and was established
by an Act of the Legislature on May 29, 1812, by passage of an
“Act to divide the County of Dutchess.’’ The vote was : Yeas, 62 ;

794

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

nays, 34. An attempt to divide Dutchess county in March, 1807,
failed. The bill was passed by the Senate by a vote of sixteen to
thirteen, but was lost in the Assembly by a vote of forty-eight to
forty-seven.

On March 9, 1812, a petition of inhabitants of the southern part
of Dutchess County comprised in the towns of Philipstown, Car¬
mel, Frederick, Southeast and Patterson, praying for the erection
of the southern part of Dutchess into a new county was read in the
Assembly and within less than three months Putnam County
became a separate county.

The Act defined the boundaries as east by Connecticut, south by
Westchester County, west by the Hudson River and north by the
towns of Fishkill and Pawling, and fixed the name Putnam. It
further provided for courts, to sit at the Baptist meetinghouse in
Carmel until a courthouse shall have been built ; to elect one mem¬
ber of Assembly and that the inhabitants shall have and enjoy all
and every the same rights, powers and privileges as those of any
other county in this State; for the adjustment of public moneys
between the two counties and authorizing the supervisors to raise
by tax a sum not exceeding $6,000 for a courthouse and jail.

On September 7, 1812, Dr. Robert Weeks, who was a member
of the Legislature when the Act was passed, sold to the supervisors
a lot of land of about one-half acre on the Main Street of Carmel

for the purpose of erecting a courthouse and jail and other build¬
ings as may be necessary for the accommodation of said county
and no others. The county office building today stands on the
original lot and also on part of the tract bought in 1927. On May
21, 1927, the county added to the original lot by purchasing for
$2,000, from Clayton and Hillyer Ryder, a tract formerly part of
the Ludington property. This tract ran the width of the original
county property and east one hundred feet from the rear and con¬
tained thirteen thousand two hundred square feet. About three-
fourths of an acre of land to the east of the above-mentioned and
south was purchased from Samuel G. and Mary E. Cornish in
April and May, 1936. This was formerly a part of the Luding¬
ton property. This is used for the large parking space at the rear
of the county buildings. A disposal field for sewerage was pre¬
viously acquired from the Ludington estate. On October 21, 1938,

PUTNAM COUNTY

795

a right of way from this newly acquired property north to Fair
Street was purchased from Hillyer and Clayton Ryder.

The courthouse was built in 1814 and the first court held in it
February 15, 1815. In 1842 the Legislature passed an Act author¬
izing the county officers to sell the courthouse and grounds, as a
change of site was strongly urged, one party being in favor of
Cold Spring as the county seat while another favored Brewster.
When it was found the deed did not permit the erection of any
other than county buildings on the lot in Carmel owned by the
county, the subject was dropped. A small jail was erected at the
north side of the courthouse. In 1822 the Legislature authorized
the building of a fireproof county clerk’s office for $750, and a

Courthouse, Built in 1814, and Modern County Office Building at Carmel

small one-story brick building was erected south of the courthouse.
Before that time the office of the county clerk was wherever he
resided.

The courthouse was repaired and improved about 1840, at
which time the portico and pillars and a belfry were added. The
courthouse was again repaired and enlarged in 1855 and a jail
built at the rear. The present jail, which is an addition to the one
built in 1855, was ^i^ in T9o6 and was completely equipped with
cells of a type up-to-date at that time. The cost was about $20,000.
The courthouse was partially destroyed by fire in November, 1924,

796

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

and was repaired and rebuilt exactly as before the fire. A new
judges’ bench and stationary seats were installed to replace the
portable long benches used heretofore.

In 1871 the supervisors gave Thaddeus R. Ganong, of Maho-
pac, the contract to build a new fireproof building for the county
clerk’s and surrogate’s offices for $10,000. This was a three-
story structure of stone quarried north of Lake Gilead. The county
clerk occupied the ground floor, the surrogate the second floor and
the supervisors the third floor.

The front section of the present three-story modern county
office building was built of brick and trimmed with Indiana lime¬
stone in 1911. It was slightly larger than the one built in 1871,
which it replaced on the same site, and cost $30,000. It provided
committee rooms on the third floor for the supervisors as well as a
large meeting room and offices for the newly-created county elec¬
tion commissioners. Creation of additional county offices made it
necessary to again enlarge this building in 1925, when a three-story
addition the full width and thirty feet long was built at the rear.
In 1936 another addition of two stories was built, extending the
rear of the building fifty feet further to the east, and another stair¬
way to the third floor added where the new addition began. At the
same time the building was widened a few feet at the front on the
south side, while the additional width along the north side for two
stories provided a long hallway from the front to the rear.

In this new addition on the ground floor are the offices of the
county clerk, motor vehicle bureau and county highway depart¬
ment. On the second floor are the county alcoholic beverage com¬
mission and the suite of the county judge and surrogate, a children’s
court room and the county library. The top floor is occupied by the
county welfare department, children’s agent, county superintendent
of schools, election commissioners and the board of supervisors.

Up to the year 1830, persons dependent upon public charity were
supported by the barbarous practice of farming out by which they
were sold to the lowest bidder and their style of support corre¬
sponded to the small sums received for their maintenance. In 1830,
the superintendents of the poor purchased about 180 acres of land
in Kent on the road from Carmel to Farmers Mills with a large
house for the care and maintenance of indigent persons. In 1856

PUTNAM COUNTY

797

the office of the county superintendent of poor was abolished and
the supervisors authorized to employ a keeper of the poorhouse.
The old house and buildings becoming dilapidated and entirely unfit
for the purpose intended, an effort was made by some ladies con¬
nected with the State Board of Charities to have more suitable
accommodations provided for the poor. In 1879 the supervisors
erected the present buildings. Improvements have been made from
time to time since then, including iron fire escapes, and about 1915
a large reservoir was built on the hill east of the almshouse and an
artesian well drilled to supply water. Standpipes were installed in
the building with hose lines attached and hydrants around the
grounds and ample pressure is maintained in the event of fire. The
number of inmates at the almshouse average about forty in the win¬
ter and thirty or less during the summer. Keepers at the county
farm since 1886 have been: Charles E. Nichols, who served until
April 1, 1898; Nathan B. Smith, who served until April 1, 1910;
Wallace C. Carver, until April 1, 1918; Russell B. Wixom, who
left the county farm about January 1, 1930, when Mrs. Eliza W.
Dean was appointed county welfare commissioner and took over
the management of the county farm.

During the early part of the present century great progress was
made in this State along the lines of public welfare and with the
enactment of the Public Welfare Law in 1929, all public relief was
taken from the control of the supervisors and town overseers of
the poor and placed under the jurisdiction of the county welfare
department. Mrs. Eliza W. Dean was appointed commissioner on
January 2, 1930, and served seven years, being twice elected to
three-year terms. She organized the department which during the
depression years of the early 1930s was fairly swamped with
requests for food, clothing, medicine, hospital care and housing.
As commissioner she moved to the county house and cared for the
inmates there also, as well as having entire charge of the operation
of the farm.

Aid to dependent children was placed in this department as well
as old age relief of persons over seventy in their homes.

For twenty years before the new public welfare law was
enacted, the law provided for a board of child welfare which cared
for widows and children with funds provided by the county. A

798

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

committee of local people interested in the care of dependent chil¬
dren, became a Putnam County Committee of the State Charities
Aid Association about 1915 and employed a children’s agent at
the joint expense of the committee and county and carried on the
work of caring for dependent children, investigating homes, etc.,
until 1930, when all of this was taken in as the work of the public
welfare department. During the latter years the county financed
the children’s agent work entirely.

Mrs. Dean was succeeded by Ralph S. Palmer as commissioner
of public welfare in 1937. He served until his death in December,
1943, and this vacancy was filled by the supervisors by the appoint¬
ment of Ralph A. Smith, of Nelsonville, who had served as super¬
vising clerk in the department for seven years.

With the enlarging of the county road system during the 1930-
1940 period and the acquisition of road machinery necessary to
carry on construction and maintenance, it was deemed advisable
for the county to have a county garage large enough for the stor¬
age of its road machinery, which represented a large financial
investment as well as for the repair of the machinery. In 1938 the
supervisors purchased of Stewart Reynolds for $12,500 the large
garage and 0.738 acre of land at Mahopac Falls. This has been
improved and modernized, new equipment added and has con¬
tributed to the efficiency of the county highway department.

T ownships Formed — After the Revolution and upon the adop¬
tion of the State Constitution an Act was passed dividing the State
into counties and on March 7, 1780, another Act divided the coun¬
ties into towns. While Putnam had not become a separate county
at that time, the part of Dutchess that later became Putnam was
divided into three towns: Philipstown, which included substan¬
tially land that today comprises both the towns of Philipstown and
Putnam Valley; Frederickstown, bounded west by Philipstown as
constituted in 1780, south by Westchester County; north by north
bounds of Adolph Philipse land, the present Dutchess-Putnam
border, and east by the east bounds of the Philipse Patent. The
balance between Frederickstown and Connecticut and from the
Westchester County line to the north boundary of the Philipse line
continued to Connecticut and known as the Oblong or Equivalent

PUTNAM COUNTY

799

Lands, was called, in 1772, Southeast Precinct, and in 1780 South¬
east town. The disproportion, in the geographical extent of Fred-
erickstown and Southeast, was so apparent and the inconveniences
arising from it were so manifest, that the proposal to divide these
towns met with great favor, and in accordance with this general
desire the Legislature, on March 17, 1795, passed an Act dividing
Frederickstown into four towns, as follows: Carmel, Southeast,
Franklin and Frederick, the boundaries of which are the same as
of the four towns today, with the exception of two slight changes
mentioned below.

All that part of Frederickstown, lying west of the east line of
Philipse long lot, and south of a line to begin at a point in the west
bounds of Frederickstown, six miles north of the north bounds of
the county of Westchester, and running north eighty-seven degrees
and thirty minutes east to the State of Connecticut, shall be erected
into a separate town, by the name of Carmel, and the first town
meeting in the said town of Carmel, shall be held at the dwelling
house of John Crane, Esq., in said town. All those parts of Fred¬
erickstown and Southeast town, lying east of the said east line of
Philipse long lot, and south of the above-mentioned line, beginning
at a point in the west bounds of said Frederickstown, six miles from
the north bounds of the county of Westchester, and running north
eighty-seven degrees and thirty minutes east, and continued to the
State of Connecticut, shall be erected into a separate town by the
name of Southeast, and the first meeting in the said town of South¬
east shall be held at the dwelling house of Zalman Sanford in the
said town. All those parts of Frederickstown and Southeast town
lying east of the said east line of Philipse long lot, and north of the
above-mentioned line six miles north of the county of Westchester,
continued to Connecticut, shall be erected into a separate town, by
the name of Franklin, and the first town meeting in said town shall
be held at the dwelling house of James Philips. All the remaining
part of the town of Frederickstown shall remain and continue a
separate town, by the name of Frederick, and the first town meet¬
ing shall be held at the dwelling house of Widow Boyd, in the said
town.

By an Act of the Legislature, April 6, 1808, the name of the
town of Franklin was changed to Patterson, after Matthew Patter-

8oo

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

son, who settled on a farm in the township in 1770 and was one of
its most important residents, founding a family that retained own¬
ership of the home until early in the 1900s.

On April 15, 1817, an Act of the Legislature changed the name
of the town of Frederick to the town of Kent, presumably after
the family of that name who were early residents and prominent
in the business and political life.

Putnam Valley was the last of the six townships and was
established November 14, 1839, by an Act of the Legislature which
set it off from Philipstown. It comprises the part of Philipse Lot
4 south of the cross county road, about half of the original town of
Philipstown, and a small tract taken from the town of Carmel in
1861. It is bounded on the south by Westchester County, and west
by Philipstown and on the east by Carmel.

Residents of the extreme northeastern section of the town of
Philipstown found it more convenient to transact business in the
town of Kent and upon their petition an Act of the Legislature,
March 11, 1879, took from the town of Philipstown that part of
the town between the then westerly boundary of the town of Kent
and running westerly to the point where the Sunk Mine Brook
crosses the cross county road, and from the cross county road to
the Dutchess County line, adding it to the town of Kent. No change
has been made in the Kent boundaries since that time.

Villages — While there were several hundred residents within
the boundaries of what later became Putnam County, before the
Revolution, there were no groups settled closely enough together
to constitute what one might term a village.

Milltown in Southeast and Farmers Mills in Kent, which by
the way was also called Milltown previous to 1838, were both
thriving milling communities about the time of the Revolution.
There were no railroads and produce had to be carried by wagon
to one of the river towns. From Farmers Mills wagons took the
produce to Peekskill, while those from Milltown in Southeast went
to Sing Sing with their produce. Both of these places were mate¬
rially changed and nearly disappeared when New York City
acquired lands for its watershed near the close of the nineteenth
century, but perhaps to them go the distinction of being the first

PUTNAM COUNTY

801

settlements in Putnam County that approach village rank. South¬
east Center, sometimes called Sodom, was another early commu¬
nity as was also Red Mills in the town of Carmel.

From the best historical records it appears that Carmel, Cold
Spring and Nelson ville were the first villages to be settled.

Previous to the Revolution there were four or five houses in
what now comprises the village of Carmel. With the establish¬
ment of the county seat and erection of the county buildings in
1814, the business incident to it caused the population to increase
and the village grew rapidly.

Cold Spring and Nelsonville had no existence as villages until
1818, when the West Point Foundry was established. The villages
grew rapidly after that and at the height of its industry during the
Civil War days employed from eight hundred to one thousand men.
These villages became the largest in the county.

Garrison was originally known as Nelson’s Landing previous
to the Revolution and was used as a sloop landing. It was used for
the shipment of produce from the farms in Canopus Hollow. It
derived its name from Henry Garrison, who bought the tract of 125
acres along the Hudson River in 1803.

Mahopac and Mahopac Falls, while having many inhabitants
previous to 1800 settled on farms, were not villages and the
romantic beauty of Mahopac was little known to the outside world
before 1834, when Stephen Monk built a hotel. With the comple¬
tion of the Harlem Railroad to Croton Falls in 1849, summer resi¬
dents flocked to the hotels, other hotels were built and gradually
the community grew as a summer resort.

Brewster village was originally a farm of 134 acres and was
sold February 17, 1848, to James and Walter Brewster, from
whom it derived its name. Their residence was built about 1850
opposite the present Methodist Church. A store was opened May
29, 1850, opposite the present Brewster House, which was built
in i860. When the Harlem Railroad was built to Brewster, in
1849, the main street was laid out for stages to Danbury. Five or
six houses a year were built and, in 1865, there was quite a village.

A few years before the Revolution a number of Scotch families
settled in what is now the village of Patterson. Other settlers came

802

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

from New England and Westchester County, and Fredericksburg
village (now Patterson) was considered a place of some importance
during the Revolution, though there were but a few houses. This
was situated about a half mile west of the present village of Pat¬
terson and known as “The City.”

Other small settlements that flourished for a period have come
and gone during the last 150 years, although settled communities
with a population of from fifty to one hundred remain. These
include Towners, Dykemans, Tilly Foster, Ludingtonville, Tomp¬
kins Corners, Oregon, Farmers Mills, Kent Cliffs and Baldwin
Place, each of which had a post office at one time, but are largely
served by the rural free delivery now. Towners, Tilly Foster, Bald¬
win Place and Tompkins Corners still have post offices.

CHAPTER II

Military Services

CHAPTER II

Military Services

Revolutionary War — While Putnam County was sparsely set¬
tled when the American Revolution started and, although no
major battles were fought within its boundaries, it nevertheless
played an important part in the war, only meagre accounts of which
were recorded by early historians. It, therefore, seems proper here
to give historical recognition to some of the exploits that contributed
to the great struggle for the birth of a nation of liberty and free¬
dom, which have since been successfully defended and which are
today being defended by American boys on the battlefields through¬
out the world and on the seven seas, in order that these possessions
so highly prized by our forefathers and ourselves may bring a new
vision to all the peoples of this world.

Putnam County was a part of the disputed country between
the British lines in New York City and the Americans in the Hud¬
son Highlands. Also through it passed the highway of travel and
communication from Hartford, Connecticut, to Fishkill and West
Point, one of the most important and over which General Wash¬
ington and other high ranking officials frequently traveled and on
one occasion, Lafayette.

General Israel Putnam, for whom, the county was named, was
in command of the defense of this section. Henry Ludington, who
later became a colonel, enlisted in the 2d Connecticut Regiment at
the age of seventeen and saw service in the campaigns against the
French at Lake George. An uncle and cousin were killed at his
side in this battle. He continued in the military service some time
and about 1762 settled on a farm in Dutchess County, at a place
that later was named Ludingtonville, in the northern part of what
became Putnam County. His military service was well known and

8o6

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

being a man of importance in the vicinity he became connected
with the Committee of Safety at the start of the Revolution,
assisted in the secret service and was an officer of the 2d Regiment
of Dutchess County. He was promoted until, in June, 1776, he
became a colonel and his regiment, known as Colonel Ludington’s
regiment, covered all the territory in the present Putnam County
from Connecticut to the Hudson River with the exception of the
present town of Patterson and a small portion of Southeast.

The members of this regiment totaled 421 men and officers
according to a report of Colonel Ludington filed with Governor
Clinton on March 23, 1778. Their parade or drill grounds were
opposite the home of Colonel Ludington on his farm. His regi¬
ment served in the defense of the Hudson Highlands near Tarry-
town, Peekskill and at Fishkill and assisted in driving the British
from Danbury after they had looted and burned that city. The
members of the regiment came from the farms in the area now
included in the towns of Carmel, Kent, Putnam Valley, and East

Fishkill in Dutchess County.

According to excerpts from the diaries of Revolutionary offi¬
cers published in “A Memoir of Col. Henry Ludington” by mem¬
bers of his family, many high ranking Colonial officers stopped at
the Ludington home, including Generals Washington and Rocham-
beau, William Ellery, of Massachusetts, a signer of the Declaration
of Independence, and others, and from these diaries the author

of the book says “it is probable, indeed, that for a time Washington
himself made Col. Ludington’s house his headquarters in the late
summer and fall of 1778.”

His house was located where the present residence of Mrs. Ben¬
jamin Stitch is situated at Ludington ville, just west of the road that
runs to Holmes.

Sybil Ludington, the Paul Revere of Putnam County — An
episode of the Revolution that parallels the midnight ride of Paul
Revere, took place in Putnam County. The British, two thousand
strong, landed at Compo, near Fairfield, Connecticut, on April 25,
1777, and marching inland reached Danbury on April 26, where
there were large stores of provisions, tents, etc., for the American
Army. These and many private homes were set afire and the sol-

PUTNAM COUNTY

807

diers became drunk with looted spirits. Destruction of the stores
and Danbury was apparently the only object, for as soon as the
soldiers could be sobered up a retreat toward the Sound began.
When the British approached Danbury, messengers rode at top
speed in three directions to secure aid. One came to Colonel Lud-
ington to enlist the aid of his regiment and arrived about eight
o’clock that night. Colonel Ludington’s regiment was disbanded,
its members scattered at their homes, many at considerable dis¬
tances. He must stay there to muster in all who came. There was
no neighbor within call. In this emergency he turned to his daugh¬
ter, Sybil, who, a few days before, had passed her sixteenth birth¬
day, and bade her take a horse, ride for the men and tell them
to be at his home by daybreak.

One who even now rides from Ludingtonville to Carmel, Maho-
pac and across to the Peekskill Hollow Road, to Tompkins Corners,
then up the Wicopee Road, which ran through the present Fahne¬
stock Park to the Stormville Road, and thence back to Ludington¬
ville, even now in the middle of the twentieth century, will find
lonely stretches. Imagination only can picture what it was like
over a century and a half ago, on a dark night, with reckless bands
of “cowboys” and “skinners” abroad in the land. But the child
performed her task, clinging to a man’s saddle, and guiding her
steed with only a hempen halter, as she rode through the night
bearing the news of the sack of Danbury. There is no extrava¬
gance in comparing her ride with that of Paul Revere and his mid¬
night message. Nor was her errand less efficient than his. By day¬
break nearly the whole regiment was mustered before her father’s
house at Fredericksburgh, now Ludingtonville, and an hour or two
later was on the march for vengeance on the raiders. That night
they reached Redding and joined other regiments and the next
morning harassed the British sorely and made their retreat to
their ships resemble a rout.

There was other activity in the Revolution in Philipstown along
the Hudson River and opposite West Point. There were encamp¬
ments of a large number of soldiers a few miles east of Garrison
near the main road from Peekskill to Fishkill. These were partly
in the present town of Philipstown and partly in Canopus Hollow
in Putnam Valley. There were troops on Constitution Island and

8o8

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

others northeast of Cold Spring, while a row of tents along the
present Chestnut Street and Morris Avenue in Cold Spring are
shown on Erskine’s military map (1780).

Continental Village in the southern part of Philipstown was
located near the entrance to the Highlands which was a point of
great military importance during the Revolution, and before the
Revolution was known as Robinson’s Mill. A large amount of
military stores and many cattle were collected there. Redoubts
were built and barracks for two thousand men. On October 9,

1777, General Tryon with a body of
troops destroyed the settlement, the
inhabitants fled to the hills and the
American troops to Fishkill, leaving
that part of ‘Canopus Valley a scene
of desolation. Later it was recap¬
tured and used for storage of sup¬
plies. Only a few years ago some of
the redoubts and ovens were still
visible.

It was at Beverly House, the for¬
mer home of Beverly Robinson, near
Garrison, that Benedict Arnold, at
the time of his treason, had his head¬
quarters. It was here that Andre
was brought after his capture and
Washington notified that the papers
were concealed in the boots of Andre. Washington and Lafayette
were en route to Beverly House when Arnold, receiving a message
that his treason plans had failed, left the military post he had
plotted to betray.

Enoch Crosby , Patriot Spy — Enoch Crosby, one of the patriot
spies of the Revolution, and who was the original of “Harvey
Birch,” the hero of Cooper’s famous novel “The Spy,” was prac¬
tically a lifelong resident of Putnam County. While born in Har¬
wich, Massachusetts, in 1750, he came to the Philipse Patent at the
age of three with his parents, Thomas and Elizabeth Crosby, and
they resided on a farm in Carmel on land now a part of the Drew

LtukA. Crcrf^

Pen Sketch of Enoch Crosby,
Patriot Spy of the Revolution,
made from an old photograph
in the possession of Miss Ma¬
nila Foster of Carmel.

PUTNAM COUNTY

809

Seminary grounds which then extended to and included the present
Gilead Cemetery. At the age of sixteen Enoch became an appren¬
tice to a man in Kent and learned the art of shoemaker. After
hearing of the battle of Lexington he was one of the first to enlist
and saw some real service. When his enlistment expired, he
returned home, but later decided to reenlist. On a warm day in
September, 1776, he fell in with a man who was a Tory on his way
to join the British. It was here that Crosby began his career as a
“spy.” Continuing with this
man he learned of a meeting
place of Tories. Leaving his
Tory pal he went to the Com¬
mittee of Safety and reported
and the whole gang was cap¬
tured. Judge John Jay urged
Crosby to serve his country as
a secret agent. He agreed, stip¬
ulating that in the event of his
death they should do justice to
his memory.

Crosby continued to serve as
a spy in the vicinity between
White Plains and Fishkill till
the close of the war, effecting
the capture of many companies
that were organizing to join the
British and, likewise, he had
many close escapes from death.

While spending two nights at
the home of his brother-in-law,

Solomon Hopkins, near the watering trough on the Carmel-Kent
Road, the house was surrounded and a bullet grazed his neck and
later the house was plundered and Crosby severely beaten and left
for dead. After his recovery he continued his service.

After the war Crosby with his brother purchased a farm on the
shore of the present Middle Branch Reservoir, where he lived the
remainder of his life. A part of this farm was taken for the reser¬
voir and is now covered with water. This farm with the build-

Monument at Grave of Enoch Crosby,
Patriot Spy of the Revolution, in the
Gilead Cemetery at Carmel. This
monument was erected early in the
1900s to replace the original white slab
marker that had been half chipped
away by souvenir hunters.

8io

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

ings modernized was known as the Hartwell farm at the turn of
the century and for several years was owned by Howard Hartwell,
who today resides in Carmel and has just passed his ninety-first
birthday. The farm is now owned by Dr. A. J. Irving. Crosby
held various offices in Southeast and was a deacon of the old Gilead
Church in Carmel. He died June 26, 1835, his eighty-sixth
year, and is buried in the Gilead Cemetery. The original white
slab marker on his grave was partly chipped away by souvenir

hunters and about 1920 a new
monument was erected by the late
F. T. Hopkins, a descendant of
the spy.

Civil War — While there is no
accurate record of all those who
served in the Civil War from
Putnam County, the credits in
the provost marshal’s office at
Tarrytown shortly after the war
listed 850 as follows: Philips-
town, 294; Putnam Valley, 104;
Carmel, 137; Southeast, 147;
Kent, 80; Patterson, 88. On the
bronze plaques in the Putnam
County Memorial Building are
the names of 728 from Putnam
County who served in the Civil
W ar. These men served in vari¬
ous regiments of the New York
State Volunteers.

Mass meetings were held in all the townships and each was alive
with patriotism during the war and many volunteers from each
town joined the ranks. There were several local companies formed,
such as Putnam Guards, Putnam Rifles, Weeks Guards, etc. When
it became necessary to invoke the draft, funds were raised and
varying amounts offered volunteers as well as a bounty for those
entering the services.

PUTNAM COUNTY

811

Many of those killed during the war were sent home for burial,
while others who escaped serious injury returned to the native
soil and continued a life of usefulness in the community. The last
Civil War veteran living in Putnam County was Emerson Clark,
of Mahopac. He conducted the Thompson House, popular sum¬
mer hotel, for many years until he retired and sold the property
before 1930. It is now known as the Hotel Mahopac. Mr. Clark
served the town of Carmel as supervisor for eighteen years and
was chairman of the board of supervisors for several years. He
died at Mahopac November 24, 1940, aged ninety-two years, and
is buried in the Raymond Hill Cemetery at Carmel, where lie the
remains of many other Civil War veterans.

Crosby Post, No. 302, Department of New York, Grand Army
of the Republic, was chartered with seventeen members on October
19, 1882. Major Frank Wells, of Brewster, was the first com¬
mander and continued as the head of the post until his death on
December 17, 1919. Samuel A. Coe, of Ridgebury, Connecticut,
succeeded Major Wells as commander, and when he died there
were no members of the post left to carry on. This post conducted
the exercises and parade on Memorial Day in Brewster from the
time of its organization until this work was taken over by the vet¬
erans of the First World War.

There were very few volunteers from Putnam County for the
Spanish-American War, but thirty-seven names are listed on the
bronze tablets in the Putnam County Memorial Building.

World War No. 1, 1917-18 — When the war in Europe started
in 1914, several from Putnam County enlisted in the armies of the
British and French Allies before the United States became a par¬
ticipant on the Allied side. With the declaration of war by this
country against Germany, Putnam County along with the rest of the
country girded itself for the struggle.

With the adoption of the draft law, there were 937 men between
the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one registered as eligible for serv¬
ice. The law provided for a draft board to be composed of the sheriff
and county clerk, and Sheriff Charles E. Nichols and County Clerk
William H. Weeks, who were in office at the time, organized as the
draft board of Putnam County and carried out the provisions of

8l2

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

the law. They appointed Dr. James Wiltse, of Brewster, as exam¬
ining physician and he was assisted by Dr. Francis J. McKown, a
well-known physician of Carmel. The board of supervisors gra¬
ciously gave their suite of rooms on the top floor of the county office
building at Carmel to the draft board and here the registered men
were classified, physical examinations made and all records kept.
Registration of other age groups than the twenty-one to thirty-one
group brought the total number of men on the files of the draft
board to about two thousand five hundred, of whom a complete
record was kept. Raymond E. Weeks, of Carmel, was appointed
clerk of the draft board and served until he sealed the records and
shipped them to Washington after the close of the war.

William H. Weeks resigned as a member of the draft board
during 1918 and Lewis E. Cole, of Carmel; was appointed to fill the
vacancy. Later Sheriff Nichols resigned and Watson D. Robinson,
of Kent, was appointed. Mr. Cole and Mr. Robinson served until
the draft boards were discharged.

As draft calls came to the draft board for Putnam County to
furnish men for the army, the draft board would summon the
required number of men from the eligible list of those previously
examined and accepted. They reported to the board at Carmel the
afternoon of the day previous to the day of departure for camp and
were housed at either the historic Smalley Inn or Lakeside Inn,
hotels at Carmel. A special dinner was served on each occasion
and hundreds of relatives and friends gathered on each evening.
The Carmel Band usually gave a concert and on many occasions
the Putnam Fife and Drum Corps of Brewster was present to add
to the martial music.

The draftees left Carmel on the seven o’clock train in the morn¬
ing each time a contingent departed. They assembled at the draft
board office for roll call and then, accompanied by the Carmel Band,
paraded down the main street to the railroad station. Many rela¬
tives and friends were on hand at this early hour to join in the
parade. Before the group boarded the train, a short program was
held with an address, prayer and a song. The draftees were sent
to Camp Upton on Long Island.

Such was the manner of selecting the draftees from Putnam
County and the ceremonies that marked their departure for train¬
ing camps during the First World War.

PUTNAM COUNTY

813

As the men left, service flags appeared in the windows of their
homes, while churches and other organizations of which they were
members, displayed service flags with a star for each member and
each community proudly displayed a service flag or an honor roll.

The Red Cross was active knitting and making surgical dress¬
ings, etc., much the same as in the present World War of 1945, and
active local campaigns were waged in all the Liberty Loan drives,
and let it be recorded here to the credit of Putnam County that its
quota was oversubscribed in each drive. Meetings were held in the
churches, town halls and other places of assembly in the villages
and on many occasions wounded heroes of the battles, who had
returned, were the speakers.

A careful watch for sabotage or enemy alien activity was main¬
tained. This was under the supervision of Sheriff Charles E.
Nichols and a secret committee investigated all suspicious activity
or persons. Guards were stationed at all the dams of the Croton
Watershed and along the Catskill Aqueduct throughout the twenty-
four-hour period of each day.

Home Guard units were organized in all the townships. They
drilled regularly and were sworn in by the State and were ready
at all times to cope with any local situation that might arise.

While the draft board had a record of all drafted men in service,
there was no central registration of those who enlisted. Various
efforts were made during the war and immediately after its close
to compile a complete and accurate record of all who served, for the
archives of the county. Much time and effort were devoted to this
task and the list of 571 on the bronze tablets in the County Memo¬
rial Building at Carmel is believed by all to be the most accurate
record that could be obtained from all sources.

Putnam County Memorial Building — In 1919, after the close
of the World War, when towns and cities throughout the country
were endeavoring to give some concrete expression of their feelings
of obligation and gratitude, a group of Carmel residents met on the
initiative of Mrs. Stephen Ryder, in the Reed Memorial Library,
and on June 3 appointed a committee of eight (later increased to
seventeen) to be called the War Service Memorial Committee, for
the purpose of preparing plans by which to commemorate the serv¬
ices of their local soldiers and sailors in the great conflict just ended.

814

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

All summer the committee received and weighed the relative
advantages of the various suggestions presented. Finally, a clearly
defined policy of cooperation with the several townships of the
county was promulgated to the end that a dignified and enduring
tribute to all participants in war activities in the county from its
foundation might be secured and appropriately located among the
county buildings at the county seat.

At a public meeting at the courthouse on November 14, 1919,
this recommendation of the committee was accepted and the Put¬
nam County Memorial Association organized. A constitution was
adopted and on January 19, 1920, the following officers were
elected: President, Edgar L. Hoag, of Carmel; vice-president,
Mrs. Stephen Ryder; secretary, Rev. A. I. Ehle; treasurer, Thomas
Manning. The certificate of incorporation was approved by the
Supreme Court January 29, 1920, and the first meeting was held
November 11, 1920. Directors elected were: Henry R. Caraway,
Stanley D. Cornish, John W. Donegan, Walter C. Gilbert, Edgar
L. Hoag, Thomas Manning, Clarence P. McClelland, George
McGarry, W. Rutger J. Planten, Annie C. Ryder, Clayton Ryder
and John Smith.

A letter was sent to the public setting forth the real significance
of the proposed memorial as a general meeting place, quarters for
county patriotic organizations and repository of priceless authentic
records of patriotic service. An appeal for $5,000 was made and
$7,000 was received from county-wide subscriptions. In August,
1921, Frederick Osborn, Alice Paulding Haldane and John P.
Donohoe were added to the board of trustees representing the west¬
ern part of the county and the board personnel remained unchanged
until the success of the memorial was assured.

The vacant lot on the main street, formerly occupied by the
three-story building tht housed Bumford’s store, Cornish’s drug
store, the “Putnam County Republican” printing office and grange
hall, that had been destroyed by fire in 1922, was purchased for
$3,500. The building, a pure example of early American architec¬
ture, was designed by Alfred Busselle, a specialist in types of that
period. The corner stone was laid August 25, 1925, and the box
sealed by General James G. Harbord, in the presence of two thou¬
sand five hundred people. An interesting program was carried out,
preceded by a parade. Music was furnished by the United States

PUTNAM COUNTY

815

Army Band from Governor’s Island. On the program were : Major
General John F. O’Ryan, commander of the 27th Division, Ameri¬
can Expeditionary Forces, in France; General Harbord; Major
General Eli K. Cole, a native of Carmel and Marine Corps com¬
mander at Quantico, Virginia, during the World War; and Briga¬
dier General A. L. Smith, a resident north of Carmel. A committee
of ladies served a luncheon on the lake shore across the main street
from the Memorial Building site and the proceeds were used for
furnishing the reception rooms.

Putnam County Memorial Building, at Carmel, Erected in Memory of Putnam
Residents who Served in Revolutionary, Civil, Spanish-American and World
Wars. Now the Headquarters of the Putnam County War Council, Rationing
Board, Red Cross and County Report Center for Air Raid Alarm

On July 2, 1927, two days before the one hundred fifty-first
anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the
building was dedicated with impressive exercises in the assembly
hall, the address being given by Clayton Ryder for the directors.
Music on this occasion was furnished by the West Point Military
Band. The building was accepted on behalf of the war veterans by
Representative in Congress Hamilton Fish, Jr.

On Sunday, July 3, a dedicatory service was held in the Memo-

8i6

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

rial Hall, at which time Dr. Herbert E. Wright, president of Drew
Seminary for Young Women, spoke.

The building cost $40,150, of which $21,987 was acquired
through general subscriptions; $11,172 by bequests, and $7,000 by
mortgage. Maintenance was to be provided by $1 annual member¬
ships in the Memorial Association, but this has long since failed to
provide the needed funds. Mrs. Mary D. Cole, of Carmel, who
died January 2, 1932, bequeathed $3,000 to the Memorial Associa¬
tion in memory of her son, George Cole, who died in service in the
World War. This bequest was used to reduce the mortgage to
$4,000. The Memorial Association was also alloted a part of the
interest on the William A. Ferris fund of $45,581.38 left to the
town of Carmel in 1930. This interest is used to reduce the mort¬
gage each year, which in 1944 was reduced to $2,100.

On the side walls of the auditorium are ten bronze tablets con¬
taining the names of all Putnam County residents who served their
country in all wars, including the World War of 1917-18. They
cost $3,600. These tablets list the following number of men:

World War, 1917-18, twenty-three of whom died in service. 571

Spanish- American War, 1898 . 37

Civil War, 1861-65 . 728

Mexican War, 1846 . 8

War of 1812 . 27

Revolutionary War, 1775-83 . 112

Those who are listed as “Died in Service” in the World War
follow: Roy E. Adams, Percy W. Arnold, Edward Burns, Clar¬
ence B. Carver, George A. Casey, George T. Cole, Walter H.
Croft, Charles deRham, Jr., Walter DeForest, Harold Ett, Clar¬
ence Fahnestock, Abraham Fineberg, Edward F. Finnerty, John
R. Fisher, George Hall, Randolph Head, Ira A. Horton, J. Harvey
Hustis, George E. J. Koch, Howard T. Mathews, J. Paulding Mur¬
dock, William H. Pope, Alan Seeger.

There were many gifts in memoriam, the largest of which was
$11,172.82, a legacy of Ida A. Brown, in memory of her daughter,
Julia A. Brown, of Carmel.

The building has been used extensively since its dedication sev¬
enteen years ago. It contains the headquarters of the Marne Post,
American Legion; the Enoch Crosby Chapter, Daughters of the
American Revolution; and has been used for many public and

PUTNAM COUNTY

817

patriotic purposes, meetings, sup¬
pers and entertainments by
churches and other organizations.

During the present World
War II, the entire Memorial
Building is being used exclusively
by the Putnam County War
Council, Putnam County Chapter
American Red Cross, and County
Rationing Board, while in the
basement is the county control
center for air raid alerts and
blackouts, as well as the air raid
alert report center for the Car-
mel-Kent district. Major Chal¬
mers Dale, director of the Put¬
nam County War Council, also
has his office in the building. It
should be noted that Major Dale,
a retired army man, has been on
duty practically twenty-four
hours a day since his appoint¬
ment, serving without pay. Dur¬
ing the daytime he is either in his
office or about the county on War
Council business and sleeps at
night in the Memorial Hall,
where he has fitted up a room for
his convenience.

County Aivards Medals to
Veterans — On October 25, 1919,
the county of Putnam awarded'
medals to all those from Putnam
County who served in the war.
These awards were sponsored by
the board of supervisors when the
idea was fathered by Supervisor

Medal Presented by Putnam County to
All of Its Residents who Served in the
First World War, 1917-18. Front and
reverse sides shown.

8i8

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

George E. Jennings, of Patterson, whose resolution fixed October
25 as the date for presentation and he was appointed and served
as chairman of the commission in charge. Supervisor Harry G.
Silleck, of Putnam Valley, sponsored a motion providing that the
medal contain a facsimile of the seal of Putnam County, but the
county clerk refused to give an impression of the seal for the pur¬
pose, so an Indian head in the center, with the wording “The
County of Putnam, New York,” around it, was used on one side.
On the reverse side was the wording “Presented by the Citizens for
Service in the World War.” The medal was suspended by a red,
white and blue ribbon.

The presentation was made by Clayton Ryder, as chairman of
the exercises, assisted by Red Cross workers. A parade preceded
the ceremonies and about two thousand people assembled around
the decorated porch of the courthouse, which was the official review¬
ing stand and on which were the county officials and speakers. Of
the 550 service men in the county, about 200 veterans in khaki and
blue were present to receive their medals.

World War No. 2, 1941- ? — In the present World War, still in
progress as this history is written, Putnam County had furnished
about one thousand five hundred men to the armed services and
indications are that nearlv two hundred more will be called. This
total includes both the enlisted and drafted. Several have been
killed in action on the varied battlefronts of the world, some
wounded and others in the air arm that has carried on extensive
bombing operations have been reported missing. Some of these
are known to be prisoners of war in Germany. There are also sev¬
eral young women of the county in the WACs, WAVEs and
SPARs and three of the pastors of churches in the county are serv¬
ing as chaplains.

With the need for military training evident more than a year
before the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, the United
States enacted the Selective Service Act and in accordance with
this law County Judge James W. Bailey on September 26, 1940,
appointed as members of the Selective Service Board for Putnam
County, Henry H. Wells, of Brewster ; Carll I. Kellogg, of Maho-
pac, and Vincent A. Murray, of Cold Spring. They were given

PUTNAM COUNTY

819

the jury rooms in the county courthouse for offices and after organ¬
izing by choosing Mr. Wells chairman and Mr. Kellogg secretary,
proceeded to set in operation the activities to carry out the provi¬
sions of this law. Registration of men between the ages of twenty-
one and thirty-five took place on October 16, 1940, at designated
places in each election district. The election inspectors in each dis¬
trict gave their services for this registration. The cards were filed
with the Selective Service Board and showed a total of 2,077 reg“
istered. The cards were numbered preparatory to the national
draft lottery after which classification of the men was made pre¬
paratory to filling the draft calls. Registrations of other age
groups followed later. On July 1, 1941, those who had become
twenty-one since the first registration, registered. These totaled
107. Those between thirty-five and forty-five and the twenty-year-
olds registered February 14, 15 and 16, 1942, and totaled 1,127.
Then came the registration of boys in the eighteen-twenty age
group. There were 307 listed at this registration on June 30, 1942.
From then on boys registered upon reaching their eighteenth birth¬
day. These totaled 462 up to February 1, 1944. On April 25, 26
and 27, 1942, the men in the forty-five to sixty-five age group reg¬
istered, later to be classified from occupational questionnaires.
There were 2,177 registered in this group.

An advisory committee to aid registrants subject to the draft in
filling out their questionnaires was named by County Judge Bailey
on October 1, 1940, as follows: Rev. H. P. Simpson, Carmel,
chairman; J. Bennett Southard, Cold Spring, and Daniel B. Bran¬
don, Brewster. Theodore K. Schaefer, an attorney of Brewster,
was appointed appeal agent. When Rev. H. P. Simpson became
an army chaplain on January 1, 1943, his place as chairman of the
advisory board was filled by the appointment of Michael C. Fischer,
school principal of Carmel. As the need for more members on the
draft board became apparent, Major Carmi L. Williams, a retired
army man, living near Ludingtonville, and Albert G. Roberts, of
Kent Cliffs, were named, the latter resigning after serving a short
time, due to his removal to New York. Mr. Murray served until
his death on March 20, 1944. Robert Grindrod, of Putnam Valley,
was named by Judge Bailey to fill this vacancy.

820

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

The Appeal Draft Board for the district of which Putnam is a
part is composed of Hon. John E. Mack and Theodore H. Miller,
of Dutchess; John J. Brennan, of Putnam; Dr. M. J. Sullivan, of
Rockland, and Alfred J. L’Heureux, of Orange County.

The first draft group to leave Putnam County left on November
25, 1940, at 7:15 a. m. The five draftees were: John A. MacIn¬
tyre, Garrison, leader ; James L. Rutherford, Stanley C. Budjieski
and Luigi A. Freda, all of Brewster, and Wallace S. Lyon, of
Mahopac.

Simple exercises were held at the courthouse before seven
o’clock and at the railroad station one of the canteen units of the
Red Cross served the men with coffee and doughnuts. Since that
eventful morning groups of young men have been sent regularly to
training camps to prepare for their duties in the armed forces of the
country on the far-flung battlefields of the world. During the early
part of the war groups of draftees left every two weeks, but later
the calls came only once a month. The calls ranged from two to three
men at a time to one hundred. With few exceptions the draftees
were ordered to leave Carmel on the 7:15 a. m. train, and report at
the courthouse at 6 :3c) a. m. for roll call.

Coming from all sections of Putnam County, some a distance
of twenty miles to reach the courthouse by 6:30, necessitated
draftees’ rising by 4:00 a. m. During the fall and winter months,
particularly with highway travel difficult at times, and at times the
mercury at the zero mark, it was an inspiring sight to see these
draftees assemble in the darkness, an hour or two before dawn.
Often they were accompanied by parents, brothers, sisters, sweet¬
hearts, and frequently the wife and child of a married man.

After assembling in the courtroom, Chairman Wells would call
the roll, appoint a leader and state the purpose for which they had
been called. Short addresses would be made by a member of the
draft board, county official, or some other member of the Selective
Service personnel. A representative of the American Red Cross
would extend to these draftees an invitation to use the Red Cross
service and a representative of the American Legion would recall
his service in the last World War and give each draftee a Legion
booklet of information useful to men in the service. Sometimes a
father or mother would speak and one of the ministers in the vicin-
itv would conclude the ceremonies with a prayer.

PUTNAM COUNTY

821

There was no band music or parade to the railroad station,
where one of the Red Cross canteen units served hot coffee and
doughnuts. The American Flag was carried to the railroad station
with each group and from the station platform made a striking
picture as the headlight of the approaching engine clearly defined
it in the early morning darkness. It continued to wave in the
breeze as the draftees boarded the train.

This ceremony was carried out for each group of draftees since
November 25, 1940, and will be continued for each group that
leaves in the future. The author of this history has been present
at the departure of each group of draftees and taken a photograph
of each group, which he trusts will be of value in the archives of
the county and of interest to present and future generations.

Aircraft Warning Service — Upon receipt of word of the Japa¬
nese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the army
ordered the volunteer air observation posts to be manned twenty-
four hours a day. These posts had previously been set up in various
sections of the county and a few weeks’ training given so that on
December 8 all posts were manned and continued to be manned
until the army deemed it unnecessary in August, 1943. Volunteer
watchers served on two-hour shifts as a rule throughout the twenty-
four-hour day, excepting in some cases where longer shifts were
adopted at night for reasons of convenience. Every airplane within
hearing or sight of the observers was reported to the army at
Mitchel Field. Women, school teachers and pupils served on most
of the daytime watches with the men taking the watches during
the night.

At the start of the war there were three posts near Carmel:
Joseph Troxell farm at Lake Gilead, Lake Carmel Police Booth,
and the roof of the Carmel Country Club; Frank Reed Garage on
Route 22, near Doanesburgh; Stephens’ farm in Patterson, on
Route 22 south of Penny’s Corners; Highland Country Club
grounds, Garrison; Rolling Greens, Mahopac; top of St. Anthony’s
Shrine at Graymoor in Philipstown.

The Patterson post was later moved to an elevated spot in Pat¬
terson south of the town hall ; the Southeast post to the roof of the
Brewster High School ; a new post was built on the Rolling Greens
at Mahopac south of the Dean House corner, and the three posts

822

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

at Carmel were combined and a model observation tower built by
the observers on the Drew Seminary land at the top of Seminary
Hill near the Pugsley Exerda, a picture of which appears in this
history. Frank Reed, of Southeast, served as county director of
the Aircraft Warning Service for a time and was succeeded by

Henry deRham, of Philipstown.
Chief Observers of the posts were :
Carmel, Thomas M. Townsend;
Brewster, J. Ralph Truran; Ma-
hopac, Louis Paul Jonas; Patter¬
son, Robert Segelken ; Philips-
town, Robert Joyce; Graymoor,
Father January Martinelli.

Herbert H. Colwell, of Car¬
mel, made an exceptional record as
an observer, perhaps topping the
list of those throughout the coun¬
try. He served on the 8:oo to
io :oo a. m. watch and did not miss
a day from December 8, 1941, un¬
til the army discontinued the
twenty-four-hour observation ' in
August, 1943, with the exception
of ten days when he went South
to visit his son in an army camp.
He walked the two miles from his
home to the post and back daily in
all kinds of weather with the ex¬
ception of a few mornings when he used his car. It was his cus¬
tom to arrive about 7:00 a. m., although not due until 8:00, and
On many days covered the next two-hour watch until noon when his
relief did not report. He had two thousand seven hundred hours
of service to his credit and was awarded a merit medal with a two
thousand-hour bar attached, by the Army Aircraft Warning Serv¬
ice from Mitchel Field. He was referred to by the army as the
“Iron Man/’

Putnam War Council — As the need for a civilian defense
organization became apparent in connection with the war effort in

Aircraft Observation Tower at Car¬
mel. One of Six in Putnam County
Used by the Army Aircraft Warning
Service During 1942-43.

PUTNAM COUNTY

823

1941, Putnam County was thoroughly and efficiently organized.
On July 24, 1941, the board of supervisors appointed Rev. H. P.
Simpson as civilian defense commissioner and on September 22,
1941, he resigned and Major Chalmers Dale, of Cold Spring, suc¬
ceeded him. Offices for the Civilian Defense and Putnam County
Red Cross Chapter were opened in the County Office, Building and
moved about January 1, 1942, to the County Memorial Building,
where the County Rationing Board office was opened at the same
time. Legislation in 1942 changed the civilian defense in the State
to a war council status and on April 20, 1942, the supervisors
named Major Dale chairman of the Putnam County War Council,
and he served throughout the war without pay. Other members of
the war council were the supervisors, J. Henry Ekstrom, Arthur
L. Newcomb, Alpha R. Whiton, Orson Lyon, Gilbert Forman and
Harry G. Silleck. Also on the council were Sheriff Percy L.
Barker, Welfare Commissioner Ralph S. Palmer, Lucien C. Hold,
chairman of the Putnam County Red Cross ; Mrs. Ernest Hamlin
Baker, director of Civilian Mobilization; Captain Francis C. Dale,
director of Civilian War Service, and Fire Chief John D. More¬
house, of Brewster, representing the fire departments of the
county.

In December, 1941, as a precaution to possible bombing by the
enemy, the council divided the county into seven air raid warning
districts and organized report centers in each, provided training
courses for air raid wardens, auxiliary police and personnel to
man the report centers twenty-four hours a day. The Red Cross
conducted first aid classes and trained many men and women, had
improvised ambulances on call and equipped first aid centers and
were ready for any emergency. Practice air raids and blackouts
were held frequently during 1942 and until the danger of bombing
was considered remote by the army and the continual twenty-four-
hour alert system discontinued about August, 1943. An efficient
organization for both the War Council and Red Cross was effected
with the county report center in the Memorial Hall at Carmel,
where telephone service connected this center with each of the
seven districts for instant cooperation for coverage of the whole
county.

District report centers with the chief air raid warden of each
follows: Carmel-Kent, Memorial Hall, Mrs. Henry Bedford;

824

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Brewster, Town Hall, H. B. Williams; Mahopac, Town Hall, John
W. Dain; Patterson, O’Hara Building, Main Street, Mrs. Mary
Gronke; Putnam Valley, Oregon, Bruce Adams; Philipstown,
Main Street, Cold Spring, Colonel Benjamin Arnold; Putnam
Lake, Henry Dale.

With the inauguration of rationing of food, clothing, fuel and
other articles to an extent never before known, the supervisors on
January i, 1942, appointed Major Dale, Stanley D. Cornish, of
Carmel, and Roy L. Blake, of Brewster, as a county rationing
board. Their office was in the County Memorial Building. Others
named during the period to fill vacancies were Ruth Brechler,
Adrian Haar, Samuel J. Hickman and Alex Limbach. Before May
1, 1944, the only executive member remaining was Mr. Hickman,
who was assisted in the work by many volunteers from various sec¬
tions of the county, to pass on applications. A paid office force of
three girls was maintained for the filing of records, correspondence
and tailoring of rations.

Enoch Crosby Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution
— Through the efforts of Mrs. Anderson H. Travis, of Mahopac,
and Mrs. Fannie B. Hughson, of Carmel, Enoch Crosby Chapter,
Daughters of the American Revolution, was organized April 8,
1926, at Brewster. The following officers were elected: Regent,
Mrs. Fannie B. Hughson; vice-regent, Mrs. Louise P. Town¬
send; recording secretary, Mrs. May B. O’Connor; registrar, Mrs.
Arlene S. Fischer; treasurer, Mrs. Myra S. Tuttle; and historian,
Mrs. Emma E. Stannard. At the end of the first year there were
fifty-two members.

The chapter has since its organization held regular monthly
meetings with the exception of July and August. It has contributed
to the State organization and the national society. The projects
of the national society have been sponsored as much as finances and
individual effort would permit. Most important of these was giv¬
ing one-half scholarship to a student at Tamassee School, South
Carolina, for many years. Tamassee is one of the schools entirely
sponsored by the national society.

Other work of a benevolent nature has included the following :
American Indians, occupational therapy program at Ellis Island,

PUTNAM COUNTY

825

Southern Mountain schools, compiling- genealogical records for
State and national libraries, prizes for Americanism in local high
schools, flags and manuals of citizenship given at naturalization
court in Carmel, national defense, historical research, contributions
to national museum, encouraging motion pictures and historical
magazine. During 1943-44 cash contributions of $130.28 were
made toward war activities, while thirty-six members reported
4,451 hours’ service for national defense. Thirty-one members
reported 7,505 hours’ service for the Red Cross.

The chapter was named after Enoch Crosby, a lifelong resident
of Putnam County, who was a patriot spy of the Revolution and
whose activity during the war appears elsewhere. While its mem¬
bership is composed principally of residents of Putnam County,
there are also several members of this chapter from southern
Dutchess and northern Westchester.

Mrs. Hughson was regent until 1929 and Mrs. J. Bennett
Southard, Cold Spring, became the second regent. She served
until 1932. Her genuine interest in the chapter, her kindly manner
and loyal friendliness endeared her to officers and members
throughout the county, State and Nation. She took part in many
Daughters of the American Revolution functions and was a mem¬
ber of the State Officers’ Club. She was the widow of the Hon.
J. Bennett Southard, who served as county judge and surrogate
of Putnam County from 1901 until his death in 1928.

Mrs. Stephen Ryder, Carmel, served as regent from 1932 to
1934 and the chapter grew in membership and distinction. Mrs.
George J. Purdy, Carmel, followed as regent in 1936 and the chap¬
ter enjoyed its largest number of members. Many noted speakers
visited the meetings. Mrs. Walter H. Howe, North Salem, became
regent in 1938. Three years of important patriotic activities
ensued and the chapter became well known throughout the State
organization and in the national society. In 1941 Mrs. Fred C.
Daniels, Pawling, became regent. She has since become a member
of the State Officers’ Club and, in 1943, was elected State librarian
for three years.

Members have contributed largely to the success of the chapter
and among them Ida Blake and Corinne Blake, publishers of the
“Putnam County Republican” for many years, were outstanding.

826

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Historical research and important publicity came frequently from
their pens and their historical knowledge was priceless. Their inter¬
est in the chapter was very keen and apparently they discussed with
their sister, Adelaide Blake, their desire to establish a building fund
for the chapter. Neither Ida Blake nor Corinne Blake made any
will, but the last surviving sister, Adelaide, did, and in it she carried
out the wishes of her sisters and bequeathed $4,000 to the Enoch
Crosby Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, for a
building fund.

Roadside Markers at Historical Sites — The American Scenic
and Historical Preservation Society interested the Daughters of
the American Revolution Chapter in 1934 to erect roadside mark¬
ers at historic sites in Putnain and southern Dutchess counties.
The secretary, Raymond H. Torrey, assisted to sponsor them and
it was during the regency of Mrs. Peter O’Hara, of Patterson, that
more than twenty-five were dedicated. The list follows, with the
dates of dedication :

1. Sybil Ludington Birthplace, Ludingtonville. September 10,

1934-

2. Ludington Mill, Ludingtonville. September 10, 1934.

3. Enoch Crosby, County Office Building, Carmel, September 10,

1934.

4. Red Mills, Mahopac Falls. September 10, 1934.

5. Site of Colonel Roger Morris’ Home.

6. Colonel Henry Ludington’s Grave, Patterson. October 8,

1934-

7. Morehouse Tavern, Wingdale. October 8, 1934.

8. Hoag House, Wingdale. October 8, 1934.

9. Fanny Crosby Birthplace, Doanesburg. October 8, 1934.

9. Fanny Crosby Birthplace, Doanesburgh. October 8, 1934.

10. Chancellor Kent Birthplace, Doanesburgh. October 10, 1934.

12. John Kane’s Home, Pawling. November 12, 1934.

13. Quaker Hill, Pawling. November 12, 1934.

14. Spring Used in War of Revolution, Pawling. November 12,

T934-

15. Route of Colonel Henry Ludington’s Militia to Danbury, April

26, 1777, and Ludingtonville Parsonage, June 10, 1935.

16. Mooney Hill, West Patterson, June 10, 1935.

1 7. Triangle Inn, Patterson. June to, 1935.

18. Cole’s Corners, Patterson. June 10, 1935.

PUTNAM COUNTY

827

19. Tavern at DeForest Corners. June 10, 1935.

20. Two markers at Putnam Lake. June 10, 1935.

21. Connecticut-New York Boundary Line. June 10, 1935.

22. Home of Solomon Hopkins, Carmel-Kent Road. 1935.

23. Mount Nimham, Gipsy Trail Club Road. 1935.

24. Daniel Nimham, Last Sachem of Wappingers Indians. At

foot of Mount Nimham on Carmel-Kent Cliffs Road. 1935.
Sybil Ludington’s Ride During Revolution. Several markers
along the road of supposed route.

American Legion Posts — Shortly after the return of the vet¬
erans from overseas and camps in this country in 1919, American
Legion Posts were organized and also the Putnam County Ameri¬
can Legion as the parent organization.

Argonne Post, No. 71, of Brewster, was the first in the county.
It was organized July 16, 1919, at the Brewster Firehouse and
William A. Shepard was elected president.

Marne Post, No. 270, at Carmel, was organized September 25,
1919, at a meeting at the Carmel Firehouse. There were thirty-two
charter members and Ray Townsend was chosen president. The
charter, however, was not received until August 10, 1920. The
post met at various places until it settled in the rooms in the Smalley
Inn Hotel, formerly occupied by the Putnam County National
Bank. When the Putnam County Memorial Building was com¬
pleted in 1927 Marne Post was provided with permanent quarters.

Putnam Post, No. 201, at Patterson, was organized September
6, 1919. Ten veterans attended the meeting and Daniel Brandon
was elected president. Records of the post indicate that activities
ceased early in 1933, and this post disbanded. The last meeting
recorded was February 3, 1933.

George A. Casey Post, No. 275, was organized at Cold Spring
about October 1, 1919. The charter granted a year later, October
1, 1920, lists thirty-three members and the first commander was
Douglas Campbell.

Mahopac Post, No. 1080, was the last to be organized, on Octo¬
ber 26, 1932. There were twenty charter members and Rocco Fail-
lace was chosen commander.

Auxiliary units were organized by eligible women relatives of
the service men. Mahopac Auxiliary was organized October 18,

828

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

19 33, and the officers installed by Mrs. Sarah Adams, county
auxiliary chairman, and Mrs. Dorothy Beal, vice-chairman of the
ninth district. There were sixteen charter members and Mrs.
Rocco Faillace was the first president. Much of the work of this
auxiliary has been for the benefit of the veterans at Castle Point
Hospital near Beacon.

Membership of all the posts has varied from year to year. In
all of the organization meetings the head officer was listed as presi¬
dent. This title was soon changed to commander.

Duncan Campbell, of Cold Spring, who served as commander of
the Putnam County Legion in 1928-29, prepared a history from
meagre threads of information. In his foreword he says :
“Strange as it may seem there are no records prior to 1926 and it
was with some difficulty that I assembled the material for the
period 1918 to 1938.” However, he states “for the year 1918-19,
the Putnam County Commander was Hamilton Fish, Jr., who was
one of the original Paris organizers of the American Legion and
co-author of its constitution. He was a moving spirit in the
organization of posts and appointed county commanders in at least
ten counties in this section of the State.

During the twenty-five years that have since elapsed members
of the posts in Putnam County have been honored by serving as
officers of the ninth district. These include Raymond L. Cole, Fred
C. Selleck and Daniel B. Brandon as district commanders; Rev.
H. Pierce Simpson as district chaplain, and Mrs. Dorothy Beal as
district auxiliary president. Ralph A. Smith, of Nelsonville, has
the distinction of having served as treasurer of the Putnam County
American Legion from the date of its organization to the present
time.

The membership of the Putnam County American Legion at
the start was 137 and the membership has varied since then from
year to year from 100 to 300. In 1925-26 the Putnam County
Legion had the greatest increase in membership of any in the State
and had the honor of leading the parade at the State Convention at
Schenectady.

CHAPTER III

New York City W iters hed

CHAPTER III

New York City IVatershed

One of the greatest physical changes in the landscape of Putnam
County and probably the first since the white man first settled and
cleared the land for farming, began in 1866 when the City of New
York started the construction of Boyd’s Dam in Kent and
impounded the waters of a natural stream as the first step in an
extensive program to erect a series of dams on the three main
streams of the Croton River and impound millions of gallons of
water on thousands of acres of land to supply the growing demands
of the great metropolis with water. During the forty-four-year
period from 1866 to 1910, the city acquired 8,371 acres of land in
the eastern half of Putnam County in the towns of Carmel, Kent,
Patterson and Southeast for this purpose.

With the completion of the last of its dams, the Hemlock, about
1911, in the town of Carmel near the Westchester County line at
Croton Falls, the city had a storage capacity in Putnam County of
42,549,000,000 gallons at the spillway elevations of the dams, repre¬
senting forty-three per cent, of the entire Croton supply in Putnam
and Westchester counties. Water supplying this series of storage
reservoirs is collected on a catchment area of 168.54 square miles,
of which 145 square miles are in Putnam County.

In addition to the reservoirs in which water is impounded by
dams, the city also secures the overflow of all the natural lakes,
three of which the city owns — Lakes Gleneida and Gilead in the
town of Carmel and White Pond in the town of Kent. It has the
right to draw on some of the others within fixed limits.

Construction of these dams and reservoirs made necessary the
acquisition of numerous farms and residential sections and necessi¬
tated the movement of a large population and construction of many

832

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

miles of new highways on more elevated land above the water line
and also the building of many bridges to carry these highways over
the flooded sections and streams. The land needed for this exten¬
sive water system was condemned under authority of Acts of the
Legislature. The first legislation providing for the condemnation
of land for the Croton system in Westchester County was passed
in 1833, and the first legislation empowering the aqueduct board to
acquire lands in the county of Putnam was Chapter 285 of the Laws
of 1865 and the proceeding was then started to acquire the land

View of Village of Carmel, with the buildings along the shore of Lake Gleneida, as it
appeared in 1890 before the City of New York condemned the property and lake
for its watershed. All of these buildings were moved in 1895. To the right is shown
the original building of the Raymond Collegiate Institute which later became
Drew Seminary. This building was destroyed by fire in 1903.

for Boyd’s Reservoir in Kent. Other legislative acts were passed
as the need for additional land and water became evident. Under
Chapter 445 of the Laws of 1877 proceedings were instituted for
the right to draw the storage of water from Lakes Kirk and Maho-
pac. Many amendments were made during subsequent years as
conditions changed. Tn some cases the city obtained water rights

PUTNAM COUNTY

833

to draw a certain number of feet from the natural lakes and later
by authority of legislation acquired the lakes and the land surround¬
ing. Under Chapter 189 of the Laws of 1893, White Pond and
Lake Gleneida were acquired. More detailed description of the
property acquired and buildings moved at Carmel, Mahopac, Maho-
pac Falls and Brewster are given in the following chapters of the
townships.

Residents of the communities affected by the plan of the city
were opposed to what they termed the confiscation of their prop¬
erty. They held indignation meetings and sent memorials to the
Legislature in opposition, but to no avail.

Many mills were being operated on the three main streams
known as the West, Middle and East Branches and practically all
of these were condemned and removed, thus causing the discon¬
tinuance of a profitable industry that had been in operation for
the previous century and was closely linked to the history of Put¬
nam County from the pioneer days of the early settlers. For many
years past the picturesque overshot wheels, which provided power
to meet the many needs of the pioneers, alongside which many a
romance started and about which poets have written and artists
recorded in color on the canvas, have ceased to turn and today are
only a pleasant memory of the past. Lands needed and acquired
for the bed of the reservoirs naturally were the lowlands that
sloped gently upward from both sides of the streams to a point of
elevation slightly above the contemplated spillway elevation of the
dams. These elevations vary from about forty-five feet from the
natural stream level to the spillway of Boyd’s Dam, to ninety-five
feet from the stream level to the spillway of the Hemlock Dam at
Croton Falls.

Upon this property were the choice farm lands of eastern Put¬
nam County which had been first cleared by the pioneer settlers
and cultivated by them and succeeding generations for more than
a century and a half. Farm homes, some dating back one hundred
years or more, together with the barns and other outbuildings, were
removed. As a rule the city offered these buildings for sale and
in many cases they were purchased by the occupant-owners and
removed, some intact, while others were torn down and rebuilt,

S.E.N.Y. — 53

834

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

either on more elevated sections of the farms not condemned for
the watershed or on newly acquired land where farming opera¬
tions were again started. Some abandoned farming and moved
into the villages engaging in other business. A few buildings which
were not sold, were burned. Only the foundations of the buildings
were left.

Within the vast area of land taken by the city were several old
family burying grounds and from these many bodies were removed
for reinterment in other cemeteries.

Through these valleys passing near the farm houses with others
leading up over the hillsides, was a great network of country roads
developed from the Indian trails and laid out and improved by
the early settlers for their oxcarts and horse-drawn vehicles.
With the flooding of these roads an almost complete new system of
highways had to be built by the city. Most of the mileage was
over entirely new land and in most instances followed reasonably
close to the shore and high water line of the reservoirs and cut in
the sides of the sloping hills. Where the original roads crossed the
valleys that were flooded, it was necessary for the city to build
fills across these valleys to carry the new roads. Archways or
large pipes under these fills permit the free flow of the water while
for narrow channels reinforced concrete bridges were built to carry
the highways. Over many of these roads the picturesque stage¬
coaches of the nineteenth century rumbled with their cargos of
passengers, packages and the mail.

During dry seasons each year since the water supply system
was completed, when it has been necessary for the city to draw on
their storage supply, sometimes lowering the water level to within
a few feet of the original stream, great areas of the bottom of the
reservoirs become dry land and one can see many of the founda¬
tions of old homesteads, mills and the early roads still lined by the
stone walls, which are monuments to the labor of the early settlers,
landmarks peculiar to New York and New England.

Along the shore line of the reservoirs millions of pine trees were
planted by the city years ago and today have attained considerable
growth, obstructing the view of the reservoirs in some places, but
said to be beneficial to the watershed.

PUTNAM COUNTY

835

One who rides through the watershed in Putnam County today
is treated to a panorama of ever-changing scenic beauty. With the
great bodies of crystal-like water nestled among the wooded hills,
sparkling brooks that flow down the hillsides, vines creeping over
the stone walls, moss covered rocks that dot the fields and in numer¬
ous places roads running beneath great natural archways of green
foliage from the stately trees, a picture is presented of a natural
fairyland. While a few of the older residents can recall the great
transformation that the watershed has made, it is the consensus of
opinion that the watershed has generally improved the scenic beauty.
The city lands are all well maintained and a force of inspectors
daily patrol the property to maintain a strict observance of sani¬
tary regulations.

With the inauguration of the hard-surfaced roads at the start
of the present century, many of the roads built by the city when
the reservoirs were constructed, were rebuilt by the State, county
or town and with the adoption of the State and county road system
outlined elsewhere in this history, some of the roads built by the
city were abandoned and rebuilt on new rights-of-way in order to
eliminate curves and shorten the mileage between given points.

The cost of constructing these various dams and reservoirs was
several million dollars, including the thousands of dollars paid prop¬
erty owners for the land and buildings condemned. With the
acquisition of such a large acreage for watershed purposes, the
question of taxation became one of vital importance. The law
under which the property was condemned provided that it should
not be tax exempt. All concerned realized that if it was exempt,
the tax burden on the remaining property privately owned in the
townships would be ruinous. Various attempts that have been
made through the years to exempt the watershed from taxation
have been defeated in the Legislature. Many actions have been
instituted in the courts as certiorari proceedings in which the city
has sought to have the assessed valuations of its watershed prop¬
erty reduced on the grounds that the watershed property was
assessed at a higher rate than other property. In most of these
proceedings the city has been defeated and the assessments as made,
sustained, while in some others slight reductions have been made
by agreement between the city and the local officials. At present

836

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

the assessed value of the watershed property in Putnam County is
$5,650,171, thus making the city the largest single taxpayer in the
towns of Carmel, Kent and Southeast.

Alvah P. French and Charles Wesley, in their history of the
Croton watershed in 1924, state that all of the present reservoirs
in Putnam County are built substantially on the sites indicated on
the general topographical plan made in 1858. Boyd’s Dam in Kent
was under construction when the water famine of 1870 occurred.
The storage of the old Croton Reservoir was exhausted and the
flow of the Croton River was extremely low, so that the city offi¬
cials were compelled to immediately purchase water upon the best
terms obtainable. At this time the city drew Lakes Mahopac, Kirk,
Gilead, Gleneida in the town of Carmel and Barrett and White
ponds in Kent. In 1880 and 1881, another dry period, the city
made agreements to draw water from Peach Lake, China Pond,
Lake Tonetta and Haines Pond, all in Putnam County. From
these the city estimated to obtain 545,000,000 gallons. The total
available water storage of the other lakes used are cited by Messrs.
French and Wesley as follows:

Lake Mahopac
Kirk Lake . . .
Lake Gilead . .
Barrett Pond .
White Pond . .
Lake Gleneida

575,000,000 gallons
565,000,000 gallons
380,000,000 gallons
170,000,000 gallons
200,000,000 gallons
165,000,000 gallons

Boyd’s Dam in Kent was the first one built in Putnam County,
as well as in the entire Croton watershed, to supplement the old
Croton Dam. Construction was commenced in 1866 and completed
in 1873. It is located at Kent Cliffs and extends from Boyd’s Cor¬
ners to Foshay’s Corners. It was built under authority of Chap¬
ter 285 of the Laws of 1865. It is on the West Branch of the Cro¬
ton System and took the name of Boyd’s from a family of that
name whose property was located in the vicinity.

Middle Branch or Tilly Foster Reservoir in Southeast was the
second one to be built in Putnam County. The dam was built near
the Drewville section of the township. Construction was started
in 1874 and completed in 1879. The dam impounds water of the
Middle Branch stream that originates in Dutchess County. It was

PUTNAM COUNTY 837

built under authority of Chapter 56 of the Laws of 1871 as
amended by Chapter 335 of the Laws of 1873.

The third reservoir to be built here was the East Branch or
Sodom. This is a double reservoir on the East Branch of the
Croton and on the Bog- Brook, all in the town of Southeast. A
tunnel 1,178 feet long- connects the two reservoirs. The dams were
built and the lands acquired under Chapter 490 of the Laws of
1883. Construction was started in 1888 and finished in 1893, at
a cost of $1,981,658. Construction of this reservoir required the
relocation of a part of the line of the New York & New England
Railroad. In 1896 further proceedings were had under the same
law by which the city acquired an additional strip of land around
the reservoirs.

Reservoir D, located on the West Branch of the Croton in the
towns of Carmel and Kent, was the fourth to be built. The dam
was built just south of Carmel village and cost $1,666,873. Con¬
struction was commenced in 1890 and completed in 1898. Its
capacity was next largest to the original Croton Dam. It was
necessary to build an auxiliary dam about two miles south, near
Crafts Station, across a valley, to impound the waters of this reser¬
voir. This is the longest and in places the widest of all the sub¬
sidiary reservoirs in the Croton System, being about nine miles
long from the northern end near Boyd’s Dam in Kent. Two
causeways of considerable length were built across this reservoir,
one on the road leading west from Carmel and another just below
the Whang Valley section. This reservoir was built under author¬
ity of Chapter 490 of the Laws of 1883 and the amendatory acts.

The Hemlock and Deans Corners Reservoir, sometimes called
the Croton Falls Reservoir, was the last to be built. The dam is
located in the town of Carmel a short distance north of the West¬
chester County line. The main dam impounds water from the Mid¬
dle and West Branches, while a connecting channel from the Dean’s
Corners Dam provides for utilizing the surplus flow from the East
Branch. This reservoir has the largest storage capacity of any
of the reservoirs in Putnam County. Construction was under
Chapter 490 of the Laws of 1883 and amendatory acts.

To further supplement the Croton System, the city, in June,
1907, began the construction of the Catskill Aqueduct System, esti-

838

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

mated to yield over five hundred million gallons a day and sufficient
to meet the demands of the growing city for thirty-five years. The
aqueduct from the Ashokan Dam in the Catskills to the Hillview
Reservoir in New York is ninety-two and five-tenths miles long.
This aqueduct enters Putnam County in the northwestern corner
of the county under Breakneck Mountain north of Cold Spring and
passes diagonally across the town of Philipstown entering West¬
chester County near the boundary of the towns of Philipstown and
Putnam Valley. The aqueduct crosses the Hudson River at a
depth of 1,250 feet and in Philipstown rises near the surface, fol¬
lowing the surface topography and land just under the surface.
The aqueduct is horseshoe in shape, seventeen feet by seventeen feet
six inches. The formal celebration of the commencement of con¬
struction was held on the Newell property on the line of the aque¬
duct east of Garrison and Cold Spring in Putnam County in a man¬
ner befitting the magnitude of the projected work on June 20, 1907.
The first soil was turned over by Mayor George B. McClellan with
a long silver spade in the presence of a large number of distin¬
guished officials and citizens of New York City. The city con¬
demned a strip of land about one hundred feet wide through the
town of Philipstown within the boundaries of which the aqueduct
was built. It was all graded and seeded after completion and the
grass cut yearly so that it presents a pleasant appearance. Con¬
demnation proceedings were started for this property on December
7, 1906, by the posting of notices on the line of the property or its
immediate vicinity by James E. Towner, afterwards a State Sena¬
tor, Charles Wesley, Raymond E. Weeks and Frederick B. Van
Kleeck, Jr. Water flowed through this aqueduct for the first time
in 1917.

With the daily demand for water by New York approaching the
dependable supply, the city, in 1921, began studies for an additional
supply and these resulted in the Delaware Aqueduct System that
was partially completed in 1943 with the exception of the dams
and reservoirs in the Catskill Mountain area. In 1939 the daily
consumption in the city was thirty-six million gallons in excess of
the dependable supply. Work on the Delaware Aqueduct System
to supply an additional four hundred and forty million gallons
daily started in 1937. This aqueduct, eighty-five miles long, passes

PUTNAM COUNTY 839

through Putnam County and Reservoir D in Carmel and Kent and
plays an important part in the new system.

Three shafts were excavated in Putnam County: Shaft 10
alongside the Carmel-Mahopac Road near the southern end of
Reservoir D ; Shaft 9 on the west side of Reservoir D in Kent, a
half mile south of Boyd’s dam, and Shaft 8 in the Hortontown
section of Kent, just south of the cross county highway. Each
shaft was excavated to nearly sea level as the aqueduct was to be
an underground tunnel, unlike the surface Catskill Aqueduct.
Shafts 9 and 10 go down about four hundred feet, while Shaft 8,
due to the higher elevation, went down about nine hundred feet.
From the bottom of these shafts the tunnel was cut through solid

Dam and Overflow of West Branch Reservoir of New York City’s System
at Carmel. Typical of Several City Reservoirs in Putnam County

rock. Drilling was in operation in both directions from the bot¬
tom of the shafts and when the drillers from any two shafts met,
hundreds of feet below the surface, they were in line within a frac¬
tion of an inch, so accurate was the engineering. The section under
Putnam County was completed in 1943. The tunnel is circular,
about 15 feet in diameter, and is lined with concrete. Shaft 8 was
closed and sealed upon completion. Gatehouses were constructed
at Shafts 9 and 10 for regulation of the flow of water. Water from
the aqueduct is discharged into Reservoir D at Shaft 9 and retaken
from the reservoir into the aqueduct at Shaft 10. The reservoir
can also be by-passed, if necessary, allowing the water to flow
directly through the tunnel under the reservoir.

840

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Construction work continued for nearly six years from 1938 to
1944, hundreds of men were employed, coming from all parts of
the country, a labor union dispute stopped the work for a few days,
and extra deputies patroled the shaft properties as riots were
feared. A dozen workmen lost their lives due to accidents during
the construction in Putnam County. Work continued on a twenty-
four-hour basis with three shifts without any confusion. Every
available house in the eastern part of the county was occupied,
while many lived in trailers while the work was in progress. The
entire cost of the project was estimated at $173,000,000.

The entire Delaware Aqueduct Project was one of great mag¬
nitude, equal perhaps to that of the Panama Canal, and upon com¬
pletion all that will be visible in Putnam County will be the two
brick gatehouses on the shores of Reservoir D. Space does not
permit in this history a detailed description that the project deserves.
Further information may be obtained from the Board of Water
Supply of the City of New York.

One of the Picturesque Reservoirs of Croton Water System, West Branch
near Carmel, with Mt. Nimham, Highest Point in Putnam County, in
Center Background.

In 1904 a study was made of additional available sites for stor¬
age reservoirs for the Croton System. One of these was on the
upper part of the East Branch, the proposed dam to be located about
a mile above DeForest Corners in the town of Patterson. This
would have impounded twenty billion gallons. This -would have
necessitated the relocation of eight and one-half miles of the Har-

PUTNAM COUNTY

841

lem Railroad tracks. Due to the fact that the borings showed the
underlying rock to be ninety feet below the surface and not of good
quality, and the fact that the reservoir would be shallow with con¬
siderable loss by evaporation, the plan was abandoned.

Improved rail service and the tremendous increase of New
York City in population and wealth, had built up a demand for
great numbers of county properties and this made it desirable that
the takings by the city should cease and thus not disturb this grow¬
ing demand. So by Chapter 738 of the Laws of 1905 the Legisla¬
ture amended Chapter 685 of the Laws of 1892 (The General
Municipal Law) by adding a new section, which prohibited the
City of New York from acquiring any further lands in Westchester
or Putnam counties with certain specified exceptions. This section
was further amended by Chapter 259 of the Laws of 1908.

The Croton watershed has so materially changed the eastern
half of Putnam County and is such an important part of its history
that the following table of statistics of all of the lakes and reser¬
voirs, furnished by the board of water supply, should be of interest
to all residents for all time :

DATA PERTAINING TO STORAGE RESERVOIRS OF NEW YORK CITY’S
CROTON SYSTEM IN PUTNAM COUNTY

842

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

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Totals . 173.84 42,549 8.039 5,116.2 83.42

♦The outlet only is controlled by the Department of Water Supply. Other lakes and reservoirs are owned and controlled by department.

CHAPTER IV

Residential — Resorts

♦

CHAPTER IV

Residential — Resorts

Near the close of the nineteenth century, a few men of wealth
with business interests in New York City, purchased tracts of land
of varying acreage in Putnam County for country estates, while
a few other tracts that had been assembled after the Civil War had
descended to succeeding generations of families of some of the
early settlers. Many of these were in Philipstown and from which
was afforded a commanding view of the majestic Hudson and the
Highlands. A few others were located in the central and eastern
sections of the county. These estates were established by the pur¬
chase of one or more farms according to the amount of land desired.
Thus began the transition of Putnam from a county of farms to
one of country estates, suburban homes and soon to be followed
by the promotion of realty developments for people of moderate
means and finally by country clubs with land available for members
to purchase or lease upon which homes could be erected.

Improved railroad service made its contribution in bringing
new people to the villages, and the improvement of highways which
followed soon after 1900 made many rural sections accessible, par¬
ticularly as the motor cars increased. This influx of residents from
the growing metropolis, first into Westchester and then into Put¬
nam, with an accompanying demand for real estate, was one of the
contributing factors that caused the City of New York to abandon
plans for further extension of its watershed and the passing of
legislation prohibiting the city from acquiring any additional land
in Putnam and Westchester counties.

While it is now quite impossible to list with any degree of accu¬
racy the many smaller developments throughout the county in
chronological order, they are mentioned to show the extent of the

846

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

growth of this type of summer colonies varying from the small
camp type structures that resemble the now popular tourists’
over-night cabins to those more substantial summer cottages and
finally the larger, developments of the past fifteen years, each
of which has hundreds of new residences, many of which are
year ’round homes with every modern convenience and occupied
throughout the year by people who are permanent residents and
active in the life of their respective communities. Each of these
larger developments is centered around a lake, either natural or
made by the construction of a dam on a stream of sizable flow.
Not being controlled by the City of New York, swimming, boating,
fishing and all water sports are available in these lakes.

It might be noted here that land speculation in Putnam County
for development dates back to the 1870s, when companies were
organized and stock subscribed for substantial amounts. How¬
ever, most of these failed and the large tracts eventually became
the possession of the mortgagees.

Realty developments of the past forty years have been more
conservative and successful, due probably to their creation when
the natural movement of population was into Putnam County, pro¬
viding a larger number of buyers.

Lands acquired for all developments had previously been used
as farms sometime during the years past, but were in a varied
degree of operation or use at the time of purchase for this new
purpose. Many of the farms in the county were still occupied by
elderly owners who had no children to carry on the agricultural
pursuits, while in numerous other cases the succeeding generations
of these farmers had found other lines of business more acceptable
and probably more remunerative with less labor and shorter hours.

Many of the farm homes were in a varied degree of repair,
while outbuildings ranged from fair condition to those which
showed evidence of neglect or abandonment for farm purposes for
some years. Milk production had been the chief remunerative
product of the farms and as the transportation facilities improved,
new methods of handling milk developed and the large corporations
fixed the price, it was possible for milk to be produced more eco¬
nomically by farmers in sections further from the metropolitan
area and on farms that were not so hilly or rocky as those of Put-

PUTNAM COUNTY

847

nam. Land values in Putnam were dropping for farm purposes,
but attained a new value for country estates and developments.

As one today rides along many of the roads in the rural areas
of the county numerous dirt cellars that for years held the winter’s
supply of the harvest, but long since abandoned, and occasionally
foundations are all that remains as evidence of a one time thriving
farm and the home of hard working men and women of the past,
and are mute testimony of generations long since gone and whose
remains rest in family cemeteries on the ivy-covered hillsides.

Religious organizations have also acquired large tracts of land
in the county since the turn of the century upon which they have
established schools for religious training, homes for the aged and
recreational camps, described in detail in other chapters of this
history.

About 1900 marked the beginning of the first realty develop¬
ments, which have successfully expanded during the years, while
many others of varying size and nature have been started at
various times since then and continued to enjoy a prosperous
growth. There has also been a constant change of property
throughout the county in individual parcels for summer homes and
estates. The first developments were at Lake Mahopac and in
Putnam Valley.

When the City of New York, in 1895, condemned the old village
of Mahopac, which was situated around the Putnam Railroad Sta¬
tion, about thirty buildings, including stores, saloons, the public
school, Catholic Church and residences were removed. Just when
it seemed as if the residents would have to emigrate as the red¬
skinned proprietors of these lands had done in other days, General
Edwin A. McAlpin, of tobacco fame, purchased a large tract of
land to the south and financed a new village. This tract was
mapped into building lots, streets cut through, a water system and
electric lights provided, and a new village sprang up which con¬
tained stores, the post office, several residences, the town hall and
later the grange hall.

While the charm of Mahopac was practically unknown to the
outside world before 1834, several wealthy families settled there
before the Civil War and it was destined to become a community
of wealthy estates. About 1834 Stephen Monk built a boarding

848

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

house to start the hotel business that has prospered during the fol¬
lowing century. In the early 1850s Dr. Lewis Horton Gregory
bought the famed Gregory House, which in its day was equaled by
few and excelled by none of its kind anywhere. It gave character
and dignity to the hotel business and promised to make Mahopac a
rival to Saratoga. The Gregory House was destroyed by fire Octo¬
ber 2, 1878, and some of the property between the boulevard and the
lake, together with the Baldwin and Ballard lake shore tracts along
the boulevard to the north became picnic grounds and for years
until the early 1920s were the scene almost daily during the sum¬
mer months of picnics of large and small organizations, some New
York groups arriving by special train.

Gradually this property was sold for residential purposes and
during the past quarter century has developed into a combination
business and residential section. Part of it housed a new high
school for several years, until replaced by the present half-million-
dollar central school, and the school site now houses the Mahopac
Hospital.

About 1921 Hoguet Point, a tract of land extending into the
lake at the south end, was divided into building lots, roadways cut
through, and became known as Mahopac Point. It now contains
about eighty homes, many of which are occupied the year ’round.
In 1925, the same promoters started the bungalow colony on prop¬
erty a short distance north of the Dean House on the west side of
the boulevard. This later became known as Mahopac Hills and
has about eighty fine residences, most of which are occupied by
year ’round residents.

With Mahopac Point growing, a new business block along the
boulevard opposite the Point was started with the erection of a
garage by Raymond Hill in 1923. Other buildings for stores and
one with apartments were erected soon afterwards and this became
the new business section. Relocation of Route 6 and the laying of
a three-strip concrete highway from the old route near the Samuel
B. Crane residence north of Mahopac to the Westchester County line
opened up additional territory for business. Passing at the rear
of the Hotel Mahopac it completely removed two residences and
continuing through what was then a swamp at the rear of the new
business block not only provided this group of buildings with a

PUTNAM COUNTY

849

paved street on each side but made possible further development
and enlargement of the new business block as well as new business
enterprises to the south. A few years ago the Harlem Railroad
Station was moved up alongside the Putnam tracks and the present
large parking plaza was provided.

Other realty developments that followed later include : Maho-
pac Ridge, about 1930, with fifteen residences; Lake Gardens,
northeast of Kirk Lake, in 1935, with twenty-five houses; Rolling
Greens, south of the Dean House corner, in 1937, and Lake View
Park, in 1939, which contains about forty houses.

While these developments were in progress, individual plots
were sold along the entire boulevard around the lake and many fine
residences erected.

Putnam Valley, while one of the most rural sections of the
county, having no railroads and like the rest of the county only
dirt highways until some years after the start of the twentieth cen¬
tury, was devoted to farming. Lake Oscawana provided its one
attraction for summer vacationists and on its southwest shore was
located for some years the Lee House, a hotel that accommodated
three hundred guests. The large structure was destroyed by fire
in 1924. There were a few other smaller hotels, but before 1900
activity was limited to the short summer season. One of the oldest
buildings still standing at the south end of Lake Oscawana is the
building occupied by Alex Thomsen’s bar and grill.

Probably the first development in Putnam Valley was that pro¬
moted by Rev. O. Y. Ladd, about 1900, on the east side of the lake,
when a number of lots in a subdivision were sold. Rev. Ladd was
one of the prime movers in the promotion of a trolley line from
Peekskill to Oregon Corners in Putnam Valley at the Putnam-
Westchester County line. The line operated for five or ten years
and was then abandoned. Shortly after 1900 Charles Abele built a
restaurant and bar at the south end of Lake Oscawana and with
the swimming and boating facilities which he developed it enjoyed
a liberal patronage and during the following years he developed
Abele Park until it contained about fifty houses. Fire destroyed
the main restaurant and bar sometime after 1920. F. K. James
came to Putnam Valley soon after the turn of the century and

850

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

developed Wildwood Knolls and Hilltop Estates on the south and
east sides of the lake and each contained about fifty homes at the
time of his death in 1940. Oscawana Lake East is another develop¬
ment with about one hundred homes and there have sprung- up dur¬
ing the 1900-25 period many others of varying degree, including
Camp Oregon, Camp Sunnyfield and Camp Lookout. These camps
are now located in various parts of the town. Expansion of the
improved road system and installation of electric and telephone
lines aided all these developments and today Putnam Valley has the
largest number of developments of any town in the county. Most
of these are primarily used during the summer season, while there
are families who remain the year 'round in some of them.

In Southeast, Peach Lake, through which the Putnam- West¬
chester County line passes, had long been attractive to picnic parties.
On the Putnam County side, the Vail family owned about a mile
of the shore line on the east. The property had been in the Vail
family since 1825. As early as 1878 Fred Purdy, o.f Croton Falls,
spent a vacation on the shore, living in a tent, later erecting a cot¬
tage. This was the start of the Vail development, which now con¬
tains 156 homes. The Vail family retains the ownership of the
property and all of the homes are on leased ground. The roadways
and water and electric systems are owned and maintained by the
Vails, although they purchase the electricity from the public utility
company. In 1921 a large dancing pavilion and bathing houses
were erected and, in 1928, a nine-hole golf course opened. They
also cater to picnics. It is one of the thriving summer colonies
today.

In 1925 Frank C. Smith, John Smith and Claude Parker formed
the Tonetta Lake Corporation and purchased the George Hine
farm on the west shore of Tonetta Lake northeast of Brewster.
The 110-acre tract was subdivided into building lots along a horse¬
shoe shape road in the property. They erected a recreation center
near the beach and today there are about eighty summer homes and
it has been a popular summer resort since it started, with boating,
bathing and water sports available.

In 1929 the four largest developments in the county were
started, which have doubled the summer population, added mate¬
rially to the year ’round residents, and during the years since then

PUTNAM COUNTY

851

added over three thousand homes, which range from the summer
camp type to substantial year ’round residences with all modern
conveniences. Each development is built around a lake providing
water sports, boating and swimming for the development residents.
These are known as Lake Carmel in the town of Kent, Lake Put¬
nam in the town of Patterson and a small portion in Connecticut,
Lake Peekskill in Putnam Valley, and Lake Secor in the town of
Carmel. All are similar in character with miles of roadways, elec¬
tric and telephone service, community or clubhouse and each has
a property owners’ association which directs the general interests
of the people of the development.

The largest of these developments is Lake Carmel, all in the
town of Kent with the exception of a small part in the town of
Patterson. In 1929 the Home Guardian Company of New York,
parent company of the Smadbeck interests purchased 1,385 acres,
including the main stream that feeds the Middle Branch Reservoir
of the Croton System. The acreage included the following farms :
The Chester W. Chapin farm of 778 acres and the Keogh and
Townsend farm of 156 acres purchased of Marie K. Hilbert;
John E. Beacom farm of 66 acres and Henry E. Beacom tract of
12 acres, both purchased of Thomas T. Law; Mary E. Holmes
farm of 120 acres; Rebecca Moscow farm of 80 acres; Orville
Townsend farm of 100 acres, purchased of Charles E. Nichols;
Eddie Moscow, 53 acres; Austin R. Nickerson, 10 acres; George
Austin, 6 acres, and Floyd Knapp, 4 acres. This tract was mapped
into 18,000 building lots each 20 x 100 feet. A dam was built across
the Middle Branch stream just north of the Moscow farm, flood¬
ing 180 acres for the lake. The lake flooded a half mile section of
the main Carmel-Patterson Road and a new road a short distance
to the west replaced it, crossing the lake on a fill. On the peak of
one of the hills, formerly the Keogh and Townsend farm, the club¬
house was erected.

Lake Putnam in the town of Patterson is the second largest
development in Putnam County. It was started about 1930 with
the purchase of five farms and a small parcel of land in the south¬
eastern part of the town of Patterson and some adjoining acreage
over the State line in the town of New Fairfield, Connecticut. The
property was purchased by the State Line Golf and Country Club,

852

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Incorporated, for the Smadbeck interests, owners and developers
of the property. The total acreage acquired in Putnam County was
i , 1 1 1 and included the following parcels: Margaret A. Hance
farm of 123 acres; Andy Johnson farm, 261 acres; George C.
Winship farm, 300 acres; Howard E. White farm, 362 acres;
Howard J. Kline farm, 60 acres; Ottilie Amend plot of 5 acres. A
dam was built across the Morlock Brook which flowed through
the property and a lake of 200 acres made. The property around
the lake was mapped into 11,000 building lots each 20x100 feet,
roads laid out providing access to all lots, and about 75 per cent, of
the lots sold within a year. Construction of bungalows began at
once and continued yearly until in 1944 there were 880 buildings in
the development. There were also three or four general stores,
gas stations, dance pavilions and several places of refreshment.

Prior to 1929 the McGolrick Realty Company of New York
assembled 545 acres in Putnam Valley for the development known
as Lake Peekskill. This tract included the following farms : Tomp¬
kins, 58 acres ; George Horton, 88 acres ; Paff , 70 acres ; Douglas,
160 acres; Hyde, 47 acres; Gale, 82 acres, and Lent, 40 acres.
This tract is located west of the Oregon-Lake Oscawana Road and
a small part of it extends over into the town of Philipstown. A
lake of 62 acres was built and the tract cut into 7,000 building lots
each 20 x 100 feet. A log cabin clubhouse was built on an elevated
site, but after a few years, due to termite destruction, it was torn
down. At the present time there are 670 cottages on these lots.

In 1929 the Lake Secor Development Corporation, composed
of R. R. Rogette, Joseph A. Fenninger and M. Snedden, purchased
136 acres in the town of Carmel, a short distance west of Mahopac
Falls, including a natural body of water known as Lake Secor.
This property was the former Sherman Russell farm and formerly
known as a part of the Levi H. Cole farm. In this development are
2,200 lots, each 20x100 feet, and at the present time 410 houses
have been erected. Roadways cut through provide access to all the
lots.

Two privately owned colonies of small size in Carmel and Kent
were started about 1920. Joseph Troxell purchased the Allotson
Dean farm of eighteen acres on the shore of Lake Gilead about
1920 and a few years later added thirty-six acres which he pur-

PUTNAM COUNTY

853

chased from the Abram Wright farm. Here he erected several
cottages for summer use. About 1938 he purchased forty-five
acres of the Calvary Episcopal Church of New York which adjoined
his property. This latter tract already had several buildings on
it and more were built until Mr. Troxell now has twenty-one cot¬
tages and practically all are built and equipped for year ’round use.
They are offered for rent only.

The last-named parcel has an interesting history. It was known
as the Wixon farm and before 1900 was purchased by a member
of Calvary Church, who gave it to the trustees of the church for
a recreation center. A large dormitory was erected near the shore
of the lake and provided a summer outing for hundreds of chil¬
dren and mothers of New York City each season until discontinued
and sold in 1938. It had accommodations for one hundred at first
and could care for two hundred at a time during its latter years.
Each group was privileged to remain two weeks, the only two
weeks these people would be away from the city tenements during
the year.

In 1929 Albert G. Roberts, of New York, purchased sixty-three
acres of John A. Bennett at Kent Cliffs. Here he erected a com¬
fortable home with other cottages for his children. It was known
as the Dixie Villa Home and Club Development. Erection of cot¬
tages for year ’round occupancy continued until seventeen had been
built and these are rented by Mr. Roberts, who retains absolute
ownership. He also erected a clubhouse as a recreational center
for those living in the cottages and built a small lake for swimming
as well as a swimming pool with shower houses.

During the past year the Leslie Sutherland estate in Kent has
been acquired and is in the process of development now.

Country Club Developments — While social and golf clubs were
organized in the county long before 1900, the country club with its
vast acreage and with facilities for water sports, together with
sleeping accommodations and dining service, made its debut in
Putnam County about 1925. The first of this kind was the Gipsy
Trail Club. Carl Anderson, an experienced promoter, acquired
about one thousand acres on the slopes of a narrow closed in val¬
ley near the base of Mount Nimham in the town of Kent. The

854

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

tract included several farms which had been purchased by a group
of New York business men and held for more than twenty years
under the title of the Kentwold Company. Included in the tract
was Pine Pond, a natural lake a half mile long. One of the largest
log cabin clubhouses ever built was erected, as well as a large office
and lodge. Plots of ground were leased to club members who
desired to erect homes and over seventy fine cottages have been
erected during the years. The membership was limited to 350 and
among the members are many well known in the business and pro¬
fessional life of the metropolis.

About 1929, after Mr. Anderson had sold all of his interest in
the Gipsy Trail Club to the club membership corporation, he pro¬
moted the Carmel Country Club as a membership corporation. For
this club the extensive estate of B. R. Kittredge in Kent was
acquired. The property included about one thousand eight hun¬
dred acres of land that had been assembled by Mr. Kittredge at the
turn of the century and included several farms on the ridge west
of Mt. Nimham. The property had within its borders three natu¬
ral lakes known as China, Barrett and Lockwood ponds. The
Georgian manor house of thirty rooms on the most elevated point
of the property, 1,040 feet above sea level, which had been the resi¬
dence of Mr. and Mrs. Kittredge, was converted into the clubhouse
and an annex of thirty rooms later added. The club sports were
made complete with a golf course, boathouse on the shore of China
Pond where all water events were held, trails developed for horse¬
back riding, and the membership grew rapidly. The China Lake
Corporation was formed to handle the real estate sales and many
plots for residences were sold and homes erected and at present
there are about seventy residences within the club property.

In the 1 920s Ralph S. Palmer, member of one of Putnam
County’s old families, started a realty club development on prop¬
erty in the town of Kent just north of Carmel village. The three
hundred-acre tract had been in the Palmer family for some years
and was known as the Alvah Hyatt farm after the previous owner.
Mr. Palmer, by constructing a dam on the brook through the prop¬
erty, made a lake of twenty acres, known as Palmer Lake, and cut
part of the acreage into building sites. These sold rapidly and
there were soon fifty cottages erected and occupied. Roadways

PUTNAM COUNTY

855

were cut through, a water system for summer use provided and a
clubhouse erected as a community center for the club members.
Across the road from the clubhouse an excellent nine-hole golf
course was laid out, which opened a new sport for many residents
of Carmel as well as the Hill and Dale Club members. At the
present time there are seventy cottages at Hill and Dale.

In 1929 Carl Anderson, after leaving the Carmel Country Club,
formed the Cabin Campfire Club at Towners. This was located
on the Deacon Smith farm of two hundred acres and was intended
to be a dude ranch, featuring horseback riding with simplicity of
dress. Sites were available for purchase or lease by members who
desired to erect cabins.

A large number of private estates of extensive acreage in
Philipstown that were developed in the nineteenth century by peo¬
ple of wealth are gradually disappearing. These estates were the
center of social activities for years, perhaps the most notable being
that of Stuyvesant Fish, whose wife was noted as a leader of
society in New York and Newport. This estate was sold after Mr.
Fish’s death to the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, a Catholic
order, in 1923, and now contains the Monastery of Mary Immacu¬
late. The Jacob Ruppert estate, in 1943, a few years after the
death of Mr. Ruppert, was sold to the Greek Orthodox Church as
a recreational center. Other well-known estates that once added
to the social life include the Hamilton Fish, Rubins, Glover, Sloan,
deRham, Ware and Undercliff. The Osborn estates are still
actively maintained and include those of William Church Osborn,
whose Graymoor farm is noted for its milk production; the Pro¬
fessor Henry Fairfield Osborn castle, which stands as a beacon
at the peak of a hill overlooking the lordly Hudson for miles to
the north and south; Brigadier General Frederick Osborn’s estate
and that of Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt Webb. North of Cold Spring
was the estate of Edward J. Cornish and following the death of
Mr. Cornish and Mrs. Cornish this has passed into other hands.
Cragside, the home of General and Mrs. Daniel Butterfield in Cold
Spring, entertained many distinguished visitors during the years
and about 1930 part of the estate was sold for the new Haldane
Central School.

856

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

George W. Perkins has extensive holdings in Philipstown today
and his Glynwood Farm is known far and wide through its tur¬
key production each year.

In the Drewville section of Carmel were the estates of the
Everetts, Drews, Cozzens and others which were active during
the latter part of the nineteenth century, but these were acquired
for the Croton Falls Reservoir shortly after 1900.

Demand for these large estates by private individuals for homes
is now at a low ebb in Putnam County as well as in other sections
of the Hudson River Valley and, if experience in the past is to gov¬
ern the future, many more of them may fall into the hands of
charitable organizations as summer camps or recreational centers.

Dr. Clarence Fahnestock assembled a large estate of nearly
four thousand acres in the towns of Putnam Valley, Kent and
Philipstown in the early 1900s and began improvements on it
shortly before he entered the service of the United States in the
First World War. He died of pneumonia in France and in the
1920s members of his family who inherited the estate gave two
thousand four hundred acres of the large tract to the State of New
York for a park, which was named the “Clarence Fahnestock
Memorial Park.” In Southeast Erastus T. Tefft acquired several
hundred acres early in the 1900s on Starr Ridge. Mr. Tefft, a
member of the New York Stock Exchange, was a sportsman who
delighted in the famed English sport of riding to hounds. He
imported from Wales a pack of pure bred Welsh foxhounds and
with several mounts in his stables, many friends were privileged to
enjoy the sport with him. Mr. Tefft enjoyed the good will of
farmers throughout eastern Putnam County upon whose land he
frequently hunted. For several years he held a barbacue at his
estate at which hundreds of residents were his guests. For two
years he revived the ancient English custom of a plowing contest
for farmers, offering cash prizes to the winners. He also main¬
tained a breeding pen for pheasants and at one time had nine hundred
adult birds within the large wire enclosure. After his death in
1935 the estate was sold.

Many other estates of varying size have been acquired, improved
and changed ownership several times since the turn of the century.

CHAPTER V

Transportation and Communication

CHAPTER V

Transportation and Communication

For long years after the early settlement of Putnam County the
lack of suitable roads was a great hindrance to the spread of popu¬
lation and it is probable that many of the traveled roads followed
the trails made by the Indians. For all purposes of trade between
New York and Albany, the Hudson River was the great highway
and these boats served the western section of Putnam County. In
1703, the Provincial Legislature passed an Act laying out and
regulating public common highways throughout the Colony. One
of these was the King’s Bridge to Albany Road on the east side
of the Hudson. This road passed through the western side of what
later became Putnam County and being made in the reign of
Queen Anne were at first called the Queen’s roads, but was later
and still is better known as the Albany Post Road.

With the exception of the Albany Post Road the first highways
in this county were laid out in 1744 by David Hustis and Francis
Nelson, two commissioners appointed for that purpose. Seven
roads were designated. In 1745 the commissioners were Adolph
Philipse, Thomas Davenport and James Dickenson and sixteen
more roads were laid out, some extending to the Connecticut line.
Others were laid out in 1747, 1748, 1752 and 1755. These roads
were identified generally as starting at the home of a certain named
resident and ending at the home of another, while in other cases
mills were mentioned as the terminus or en route. In most cases
the routes of the roads were designated by marked trees.

While many of the names of residents mentioned give a clue to
early landmarks, the memory of these has long since passed away,
but others such as Peekskill Hollow, West Branch of the Croton,
Horse Pound, Joe’s Hills and a few more are still familiar today.

86o

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

In 1785 a legislative Act established a stage route on the Albany
Post Road to make a trip at least once a week from New York to
Albany. It is probable that in Putnam County this stage stopped
at Warren’s Tavern in Philipstown, in recent years remodeled and
revived as the Bird and Bottle Inn. Another Post Road in the
eastern end of the county passed over Dingle Ridge and Joe’s Hills
and north through the eastern part of the town of Patterson.

A few years after the Revolution the State government and
the people gave their attention to the need of better communica¬
tion. Acts were passed for the improvement of certain highways
and for laying out new ones. Many turnpike companies were
formed and funds raised by lotteries. Provision was made for
residents along the routes to work out their tax and this produced
a manifest improvement in the roads. The first turnpike company
within the bounds of Putnam County was the Highland Turnpike
Company, in 1804. This road ran through Philipstown and the
Act provided that milestones be erected at every mile giving the
distance from New York.

While milestones were set up in 1769 on the Post Road from the
City Hall to King’s Bridge, the others, including those in Putnam
County, were set in accordance with a legislative Act of March
21, 1797. There were originally twelve of these milestones in Put¬
nam County and credit goes to the Putnam County Historical
Society for its work, directed by Rev. Elbert Floyd-Jones, of Cold
Spring, for locating ten of the original stones and furnishing two
to replace the two that were missing, so that today Putnam County
has its full quota of milestones, all securely set, and is probably the
only county in the State to still have its full quota of these sentinels
of the highway standing where they were originally set a century
and a half ago.

The Rev. Elbert Floyd-Jones, rector of St. Mary’s Church-in-
the-Highlands, and chairman of the committee on milestones of
the Putnam County Historical Society, wrote an interesting history
in 1923, entitled: “A Relic of the Highway, the Origin and Use
of Milestones.” From this book, with the permission of the author,
we quote a part relative to the milestones in Putnam County as
follows :

PUTNAM COUNTY

861

‘‘When the Putnam County Historical Society under¬
took the task of examining the mile-stones left in the county,
and making such restoration as should be found necessary,
only eight of the original twelve could be discovered, a large
number compared with the other counties. Some of these
bore evidence of indifference and neglect. Many were
obscured with overgrowing vegetation. Some were barely
standing. The inscriptions of several were almost illegible.
Through the efforts of the committee the existing mile¬
stones were given the attention each one required, and, so
far as possible, were restored to their original condition.

“Since the committee completed this work, two very
felicitous and accidental discoveries were made in the find¬
ing of some pieces of two of the lost stones. One, the cen¬
tral piece of No. 58, was discovered in a stone wall being
demolished to furnish material for the State road. This
piece has been placed in a concrete base and put in its proper
location. The base of the other stone, No. 56, was dis¬
covered by Mr. Griffen emerging from the bank on the side
of the road at its proper location. This fragment, two feet
long, twelve inches wide and eight inches in thickness, has
also been set in concrete, relettered and renumbered.

“A few months ago the committee on mile-stones felt
it would add very much to the efforts of the society, already
accomplished, if the two stones Nos. 62 and 63 that were
missing could be reproduced, and thus the whole original
number be found in their places. The idea conceived was
speedily developed. The committee having been informed
that there was some well seasoned brownstone at the West
Point Military Academy, as part of a demolished building,
negotiations were immediately opened with the Quarter¬
master at West Point for the securing of this stone .

“The stones thus presented were obtained and after
suitable preparation and treatment by Mr. George A. Logan
of Cold Spring, were inscribed with the exact copy of the
lettering upon the original stones.

“On the afternoon of October 11, 1921, the committee
on milestones went with Mr. Logan to the proper places,

862

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

and assisted by Mrs. C. Seton Lindsay, a member of the
Putnam County Historical Society, who turned the sod in
the digging of the holes, the reproduced milestones were
erected where they belong.

“This gives to Putnam County the distinction of being
the only county in the State that possesses the original quota
of milestones in its territory.”

By an Act passed April 14, 1815, the Philipstown Turnpike
Company was incorporated for the purpose of making a good and
sufficient road from Cold Spring running easterly to the Connecti¬
cut line. This road ran through the Cold Spring woods to Farmers
Mills, on the west side of White Pond into Dutchess County at
Peckslip and back into Putnam at Ludingtonville and continued
through the village of Patterson to the Connecticut line. Parts of
this road were later abandoned and finally the turnpike company
abandoned the entire road to the towns and legislation in 1879 pro¬
vided for the board of supervisors to appoint three commissioners
to keep it in repair and $500 was appropriated annually for this
purpose. It continued under the direction of the supervisors until
1930, when the Putnam County Planning and Development Com¬
mission’s highway program built the macadam pavement from
Mead’s Corners to the Albany Post Road. This provided the first
road across the county that could be traveled the year ’round.

Most of the present highways, with the exception of those relo¬
cated due to the vast watershed changes, follow nearly the general
course of those originally laid out, but practically all of the improved
roads have been slightly altered by the State and county in their
reconstruction programs since 1900, to eliminate curves and grades
to meet the demands of the motor car era. Sections of some of the
old roads have been abandoned and closed while in the construction
of modern concrete pavements, during the past ten years, some of
the present roads are on entirely new locations.

While the dirt and gravel roads appeared adequate for the
oxcarts, stagecoaches and horse-drawn vehicles of the nineteenth
century, although causing delay and inconvenience during the
spring muds, they were not suited for the motor car that appeared
at the start of the twentieth century. The Legislature recognized

PUTNAM COUNTY

863

the need of providing a better pavement and several Acts were
passed early in the 1900s for reconstruction work. A State road
system was mapped and provision made for construction at the
joint expense of the State and county in which any road to be
improved was constructed. Legislation in later years provided
for the State to pay the entire cost of construction, the county con¬
tinuing to purchase the right-of-way. Road improvement in Put¬
nam County began at State and county expense about 1904 and
has continued with a limited mileage being constructed yearly and
in most cases the earliest improved roads have been reconstructed
since then.

The townships, realizing that the need for improved roads was
far too urgent to await a State program which would never improve
many of the town highways, began the construction of stone based
and macadam surfaced roads, which greatly aided the residents of
the sections through which they passed as well as the public gen¬
erally. Many of these town improvements were financed by bond
issues.

In 1925 the Putnam County Chamber of Commerce recom¬
mended to the board of supervisors the appointment of a County
Planning and Development Commission. Legislation authorizing
the appointment of this commission and generally describing its
duties was passed March 16, 1927, and on April 11, 1927, the
supervisors appointed Leslie Sutherland, of Kent; Edward J. Corn¬
ish and Seward Jaycox, of Philipstown; James E. Towner, of
Patterson ; James A. Zickler, of Carmel ; Martin Stryker, of Put¬
nam Valley, and Benjamin O. Nichols, of Southeast. Mr. Jaycox
and Mr. Nichols declined to serve and these vacancies were filled by
the appointment of Frederick Osborn, of Philipstown, and Erastus
T. Tefft, of Southeast. The commission organized and its work
was devoted to further road improvement. A county system of
roads was mapped for improvement, including the main cross
county road through the Cold Spring woods, originally laid out in
1815 by the Philipstown Turnpike Company.

Work was soon started on the construction of this road system
and from 1929 to 1932 49.72 miles of macadam surfaced stone
based roads were completed in all six townships at a cost of $2,054,-
810. Funds to meet the cost of construction were obtained by

864

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

bond issues of the county. These roads aided very materially the
transportation of residents of all sections of the county and particu¬
larly gave relief to the winter and spring daily hauling problems
of many farmers.

There have been additional highways constructed since then,
and the county highway department has carried on the maintenance
of the county system of roads in a creditable manner.

There are today in Putnam County 101.16 miles of improved
roads built and maintained by the State; 108.60 miles of improved
county roads; 135.63 miles of improved town roads and 209.24
miles of unimproved town roads. There are also forty miles of
semi-public improved roads in developments in Putnam Valley.

In addition to the above highways the Taconic State Parkway
passes through the center of the county adding a third artery for
north and south bound traffic to augment the Albany Post Road
on the western side and Route 22 on the eastern side of the county.
This parkway is a part of the State system and connects with the
Westchester Parkway System at the county line. The State
obtained a right-of-way four hundred feet wide through the county
and built a forty-foot strip concrete highway in the center, land¬
scaping the sides in a manner pleasing to the eye. Work on the
construction of the parkway was officially started April 28, 1931,
when Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, who less than two years
later became President of the United States, turned the first sod
and addressed a great crowd that gathered on that sunny after¬
noon, on the parkway plan and its value to the public when com¬
pleted. This ground breaking took place near the spot where the
Bryant Pond Road crosses the parkway in Putnam Valley. The
parkway was built through a virgin wooded rural section over
which no highway had previously passed and unfolds to the motor¬
ist twelve miles of scenic marvels in the roughest section of the
county, inhabited only by wildlife. It passes through the Fahne¬
stock Memorial Park, connects with the Peekskill Hollow Road
and the main cross county road and leaves Putnam County and
enters Dutchess County in the vicinity of Hortontown.

After the importance of West Point as a military academy
became evident, it seemed advisable to have some communication
across the river and by a legislative Act, March 16, 1821, Henry

PUTNAM COUNTY

B65

Garrison, of the town of Philips, now Philipstown, was authorized
to set up and maintain a ferry. By another Act, April 12, 1830,
John Garrison, also of the town of Philips, was authorized to
maintain a ferry from Constitution Island off the Putnam County
shore to the Orange County side of the Hudson. In 1833 rates of
ferriage were established by the county court. Several others were
authorized to maintain ferry service, until in 1863 a grant was made
to the Garrison & West Point Ferry Company, which organization
was composed of Henry W. Belcher, Harry E. Belcher, George E.
Belcher, Charles D. Hoffman, Ethan D. Griswold and Frank D.
Griswold. This company had several ferry boats during the years
which continued to operate until November, 1928, when the service
was discontinued. During the last years of the ferry operation
Minnie Belcher was the operating head. Construction of the Bear
Mountain Bridge a few miles to the south about 1920 took much of
the patronage away from the ferry. For some years before the
West Shore Railroad was built, most of the supplies for West Point
came to Garrison by train and were shipped across the river by
ferry.

Railroad service entered both the western and eastern sides of
the county about the middle of the nineteenth century. The Hud¬
son River Line of the New York Central reached Cold Spring from
New York in 1848 and the Harlem Line from New York was
extended from Croton Falls to Brewster and through Putnam into
Dutchess in 1849. Previous to the extension of the railroad from
Croton Falls, stagecoaches carried passengers, mail and express
from Croton Falls to Mahopac and Carmel, while another stage¬
coach operated between Carmel and Peekskill.

The project of more direct communication by railroad from
Carmel and Mahopac had long been agitated and in 1870 the
scheme seemed likely to be fulfilled. On February 13, 1870, ground
for the new railroad was broken, the first shovelful of earth being
turned by Rev. William S. Clapp. It was a great day for Carmel
and a large crowd assembled for the ceremonies. The bridge over
the railroad near the depot was built in 1871. It was a wooden
structure and was replaced about 1900 by the present one. How¬
ever, Carmel had to wait several years before the railroad was

S.E.N.Y. — 55

866

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

completed as the work was hindered by constant delays. The first
train from Carmel was on December 23, 1880, and carried six pas¬
sengers and thirty-nine cans of milk.

When the agitation for the construction of the Putnam began,
the directors of the Harlem road, at that time a competitive com¬
pany, hurriedly planned to build a branch from Goldens Bridge to
Lake Mahopac. Work was started at once and the first train ran
from New York to Mahopac on July 4, 1871. A great celebration
was held and Mahopac was in all its glory.

About 1882 the Central New England Railroad was extended
west from Connecticut through northeastern Putnam County into
Dutchess. This road paralleled very nearly the main highway
from Brewster to Danbury and after leaving Brewster turned
northwest through Dykemans, Towners and West Patterson. This
provided cross country rail service to Poughkeepsie to the west
and as far as Boston to the east. Passenger service was discon¬
tinued on this line before 1920 and it has since been used entirely
for freight and many long freights pass daily carrying supplies
from the west into New England.

Putnam County had no wire communication with any section
before the middle of the nineteenth century, but with the extension
of the two railroad lines through Cold Spring and Brewster, tele¬
graph lines followed and a wire was extended to Carmel some years
before the Putnam Railroad was built.

Telephone service in Putnam County was first introduced at
Cold Spring in 1882, when a crude central office was operated by
the late Vincent A. Murray, to which were connected several tele¬
phones. The office was in the W. A. Murray & Sons’ plumbing
shop on Main Street. It was later operated by Mr. Murray under
a sub-license agreement with the Hudson River Telephone Com¬
pany. In 1910 the property was acquired by the New York Tele¬
phone Company and a new two-position switchboard installed at
the corner of Roe and Main streets. It was serving more than five
hundred telephones in April, 1940, when a new dial central office
was opened. On January 1, 1944, there were 629 telephones being
served.

The first telephone user in Brewster was Mills Reynolds, pro¬
prietor of the Southeast House on Main Street. His telephone was

PUTNAM COUNTY 867

installed in 1897 and was then served from the central office in Bed¬
ford Hills. The first central office in Brewster, serving five wall-
type “crank-handle” telephones, was opened in 1898 by the Hudson
River Telephone Company, in the livery stable of L. A. Shove on
Main Street. He was the first. operator. The line came to Brew¬
ster from Mt. Kisco. The equipment was enlarged during the
years as more telephones were installed and in 1909 there was a
three-position switchboard located in the Ryder Building on Main
Street, serving two hundred telephones, when the New York Tele¬
phone Company acquired the property. Fire destroyed the central
office in November, 1918. A new one was promptly installed in
the Roberts Building on Main and Park streets. Alice Ryan was
the chief operator for several years until May, 1938, when a new
dial central office was opened. At that time there were 955 tele¬
phones being served. On January 1, 1944, the dial office was serv¬
ing 1,127 telephones.

Work on the extension of the telephone system to Carmel and
Mahopac was started in 1900, the line being run from Croton
Falls. It was completed to Carmel in August and a pay station
and the central office installed in the “Putnam County Courier”
office. The line was connected at 4:00 p. m., August 16, 1900, and
the first Carmelite to talk out of town was L. E. Cole, of the Smal¬
ley Hotel, who spoke to the wire chief in New York. The first paid
call to Carmel was that of John A. Connolly from Cold Spring,
fifteen minutes after the line was in service. Then came several
political calls concerning the Republican caucus in Kent. It took
one-half hour to tell the news over the county. In the night Dr.
McKown found it convenient to talk to New York. Previous to
the installation of the long distance telephone line, there was a
private telephone system in the village installed by a few inter¬
ested persons, all on one line. These included the “Courier” office,
the railroad station, City of New York Water Supply office at the
residence of Thomas Manning, the residence of James A. Zickler
and the office of Dr. J. B. Merritt.

J. M. Wiltse, of Mt. Kisco, was the wire chief who superin¬
tended the installation of the long distance line and the hand-
cranked magneto switchboard that was bolted to the wall in the
“Courier” office. It contained three lines on which were fourteen

868

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

subscribers with rings of from two to six. The central was open
from 8:oo a. m. to 9:00 p. m., but there was no operator at night.

" After a year or so the central office was moved to the J. N.
Walker drug store, where it remained until September, 1905, when
it was moved to the residence of W. F. Jewell and all night service
became an added convenience. In July, 1905, the line was extended
to Kent Cliffs to connect with a system installed by A. C. Town¬
send to serve Kent Cliffs and Farmers Mills and a small switch¬
board was later installed in the store of Mr. Townsend. With the
increase of subscribers a large one-position switchboard was
installed at Carmel and during the years enlarged to a two and then
a three-position switchboard, which contained about three hundred
lines in March, 1939, when a new dial office was installed, serving
more than five hundred telephones. On January 1, 1944, it was
serving 764 telephones in the Carmel-Kent area. The equipment was
purchased by the New York Telephone Company in 1909.

In 1907 fire destroyed the residence in which the central was
located. The switchboard was moved before the flames reached
it and was set up in the rear of the Schumann barber shop and a
few days later moved to Brewster Avenue. In 1916 it was moved
into part of the new residence built by Dr. Austin LaMonte on
Church Street, where it remained until March, 1939, when replaced
by the dial system. Mrs. W. F. Jewell continued as the operating
agent from September, 1905, until March, 1939, with the exception
of two years.

At Mahopac a telephone was installed in the Thompson House
shortly before 1900 and was connected with the Bedford Hills toll
center: About November 1, 1901, the Hudson River Telephone
Company completed its toll line from Croton Falls to Mahopac,
after being delayed nearly a year due to right-of-way for its poles
on the property of two individuals en route. The central office was
placed in the Thompson House, now the Hotel Mahopac. There
were nine subscribers at the time listed as Thompson House, Dean
House, Forest House, Shove’s Livery and the residences of A. B.
See, DeWitt Smith, Mrs. Hoguet, Norman Merritt and Dr. Card.
The office was later moved to the home of Charles Lee, which stood
next to the present Mahopac National Bank. The property was
acquired by the New York Telephone Company in 1909 and in

PUTNAM COUNTY

869

1912 the office was moved to the new village on Alpine Street and a
larger switchboard installed. Mrs. Helen King was the chief
operator for several years until 1932, when a new dial central office
was opened on Bucks Hollow Road serving 636 telephones. On
January 1, 1944, the office was serving 1,006 telephones in the
Mahopac area.

In Patterson, George S. Williams, whose newspaper office of
the “Patterson Weekly News” was on Railroad Avenue or Front
Street, maintained a private telephone system about 1900, serving
only a few telephone users. In 1903 the Hudson River Telephone
Company extended its lines to Patterson and bought out Mr. Wil¬
liams and the new company central office was located in his news¬
paper office. It was later moved and for many years Mrs. James
Johnston was the agent. The New York Telephone Company
acquired the property about 1910 and in 1940 opened a new dial
central office which on January 1, 1944, was serving 383 telephones.

Until about 1895 there were no electric street lighting systems
in any of the villages of the county and lanterns were generally
used by those who traveled after dark. Many residents maintained
a kerosene lamp, on a pole at the sidewalk in front of their entrance
gate, which burned from dusk until the bedtime of the owner. In
Carmel, Cold Spring and some of the other villages the efforts of
groups of residents to provide street lights resulted in setting a
number of kerosene lamps on posts at stated distances along the
main street and the appointment of one person to light and extin¬
guish them as well as keep them filled with kerosene.

Acetylene gas lighting equipment became popular before 1900
and several residences as well as business places installed plants and
this improved their lighting facilities until electric service was
available.

George Juengst & Sons, of Croton Falls, built an electric plant
on the east branch of the Croton and generated electricity with
water power for their machine shop shortly before 1890 and soon
afterwards supplied Croton Falls with electric lights and in 1894
extended their lines to Brewster for street lighting. Later the
power lines were extended to other communities, including Lake
Mahopac in 1924. In Carmel, Ellsworth Fowler installed an elec¬
tric plant in 1906, and in June of that year the streets of the village

870

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

were lighted. Electricity came to Patterson in 1915 from Pawling.
A franchise was given Ralph Griffing, who operated the system
for a few years, obtaining the power from a company in Connecti¬
cut. In 1920 the New York State Electric & Gas Corporation
acquired all of the electric lines and franchises in eastern Putnam
and the power lines were rapidly extended to serve residents in
practically every section.

Cold Spring was the first settled community in the county to
have any public lighting facilities. A gas company was early
incorporated and had storage tanks near the present Cold Spring
Lumber Company yards. The main street was piped and some of
the old residences still contain the piping used for residential light¬
ing. Kerosene lamps lighted the village streets until about 1900,
when fifty-four gasoline street lights were installed. Joseph
Immorlica was employed to light and maintain these from 1905
until 1913, at which time there were sixty-four.

On October 11, 1899, the Cold Spring Light, Heat & Power
Company was formed. While it is said that J. Bennett Southard
and Gerald Grace were financially interested, the certificate of
incorporation lists only the names of Samuel L. Barriett, James F.
Ferris and Arthur S. Hughson. Mr. Barriett was the electrician
at the West Point Foundry and installed the steam powered electric
plant about 1900 at the corner of Main Street and Morris Avenue.
From this plant electricity was furnished residences in Cold Spring
and in 1913 electricity replaced the gas lamps for street lighting.
In 1925 a franchise was obtained in Nelsonville and electricity
extended to the residences and for street lights. A few years later
the Associated Gas & Electric Company purchased the franchise
and equipment and the villages and entire township have since been
supplied with electric power by the Central Hudson Electric
Company.

CHAPTER VI

The Professional Aspect

Bench and Bar — While the bench and bar roster of Putnam
County contains the names of many native sons of distinguished
families, including in some cases several generations of pioneer
settlers, it is generally acknowledged that Hon. James Kent, the
famous lawyer and Chancellor of the State of New York from
1814 to 1823 heads the list, for what Blackstone was to England,
Chancellor Kent has been to America. He was the son of Moss
Kent and grandson of Rev. Elisha Kent, and was born July 31,
1763, in Doanesburgh, near the present residence of William H.
Baker, in the town of Southeast. After being admitted to the bar
he returned to Southeast with the intention of commencing the
practice of his profession, but this secluded place furnished no
proper field for his talents and he went to Poughkeepsie. He held
various places of honor and distinction before becoming Chancellor.

Pelletreau’s history of Putnam County, of 1886, gives brief
biographical sketches of the well-known members of the bar up to
that time and the active life work of many of them continued for
some years later. Of this group Clayton Ryder, of Carmel, is the
only one surviving at this time. He is still active in his law office,
dean of the Putnam County Bar, president of the Putnam County
National Bank and a director in many business and social organi¬
zations, and to him, as a member of the advisory council of this
history, the writer desires to express his thanks and appreciation
for the painstaking assistance and valuable help rendered.

This sketch will, therefore, list the lawyers who have carried
on their profession in Putnam County since 1886, many of whom
have answered the final summons of the highest court from which
there is no appeal.

874

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Abram J. Miller, who maintained an office in Brewster from
1869 until his death in 1908, was a son of John G. and Phebe A.
Miller and was born in Somers, but spent his boyhood in Carmel.
He had an extensive practice in eastern Putnam and served as dis¬
trict attorney from 1885 to 1896.

Ambrose Ryder, member of one of the oldest and best known
families of Putnam County, practiced law at Carmel for forty-
three years, until his death in 1892. He served as county judge
from 1851 to 1862, county treasurer in 1873 and supervisor of Car¬
mel in 1882. He was the first trained lawyer to become county
judge and surrogate and his administration marked the beginning
of a new era in the county’s jurisprudence. He was connected with
nearly every case of importance in the county after leaving the
bench and represented many local property owners in the proceed¬
ings relating to the condemnation of lands by the City of New York
for its water supply here. He was a founder of the Putnam County
National Bank, an officer until his death, a trustee of Drew Female
College, officer of the Putnam County Agricultural Society and
first president of the Carmel Club.

Edward Wright, who was born in Union Valley in 1826, began
active life as a teacher, but after holding various appointive and
elective offices, it was while serving as county clerk, i860 to 1863,
that he engaged in the study of law and previous to his admission
to the bar was elected county judge, taking office in January, 1864.
He served until 1884, after which he devoted his time to the practice
of law until his death in 1911.

William Wood, of Cold Spring, served as county judge and
surrogate from 1884 to 1902. He was a native of Ireland, but
came to Cold Spring with his parents when a child and worked as
an iron moulder in the West Point Foundry. He began the study
of law in the office of Samuel Owen, then district attorney, was
admitted to the bar in 1876, served three terms as district attorney
before entering upon the duties as county judge. He was connected
with the Presbyterian Church. He was distinguished for ready
eloquence as a political speaker, had few superiors and was engaged
by the State Committee in two political campaigns. His death
occurred January 16, 191 1.

PUTNAM COUNTY

875

J. Bennett Southard, who was born in Nelsonville, August 15,
1874, succeeded Judge Wood as county judge and surrogate in
1902 and his long tenure in this office until his death on November
17, 1928, made him the best known of the jurists of the present
century. His biography appears elsewhere in this history.

James W. Bailey, of Cold Spring, the present county judge, has
served in that office since 1930 and his biography also appears in
this history.

Joseph P. Shea, born in Cold Spring, January 11, 1886, main¬
tained law offices there and in New York for several years. He
served as county judge from November, 1928, until January 1,
1930, by appointment of Governor Smith, to fill the vacancy caused
by the death of Judge Southard. He taught school before taking
up the study of law and was a graduate of New York University
Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1908. He was counsel
to the village of Cold Spring several years, president of the Haldane
School Board at one time and a member of several fraternal and
social organizations. He was attorney for the State Tax Com¬
mission in Putnam County for several years and twice a candidate
for county judge. He was long active in the councils of the Demo¬
cratic party.

George E. Anderson practiced law in Carmel for more than a
half century until his death December 30, 1930. Born at Mahopac
Mines in 1853, he attended the State Normal School and after
teaching one year, in 1874, studied law. He was admitted to the
bar in 1876 and located at Carmel, occupying an office with Hon.
Ambrose Ryder, and after the latter’s death continued his office
with Clayton Ryder. He was a candidate of the Democratic party
for Member of Assembly, district attorney and county judge and
served as clerk of the board of supervisors for three years. He
enjoyed an extensive law practice and was counsel for many resi¬
dents in the New York City condemnation proceedings.

Frederic S. Barnum, who was born in Southeast in 1858, was
admitted to the bar in 1881 and a year later opened an office in
Brewster and in 1884 was appointed district attorney of Putnam
County. During his term two important criminal trials were suc¬
cessfully conducted. One was The People against James H. Riley
for the murder of Hannah Sunderlin, of Patterson. Riley was

876

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

convicted and sentenced to life in Sing Sing. Mr. Barnum died
about 1928.

Clayton Ryder, following in the footsteps of his father in the
legal profession, was admitted to the bar in 1881 and began the
practice of law in his father’s office in Carmel. He has enjoyed an
extensive practice, appeared for many clients in the city watershed
proceedings for a quarter of a century, as counsel for the towns of
Carmel and Kent in certiorari actions brought by the city for
reduction in the watershed assessments, and settled estates for
many of the families of the county. He has been president of the
Putnam County National Bank since 1892 and is the author of the
banking history of Putnam County herein. He is a director of
many associations and has been active in many social organizations
during the past half century. His hobby is horticulture.

Seymour B. Nelson, a native of Cold Spring, opened an office
in Cold Spring in 1874 and continued the law practice until his
death. He held the office of justice of the peace several years in
Philipstown.

James Gardiner was born in Cold Spring, admitted to the bar
in 1877 and practiced law until his death.

William H. Haldane was a member of a prominent Putnam
County family. He was born at Cold Spring and after admission
to the bar, in 1874, opened an office in New York, but was at his
Cold Spring office at stated times.

Ward B. Yeomans was born in Philipstown in 1856 and was
admitted to the bar in 1880 and opened an office in Cold Spring,
where he continued the law practice until he removed to Brooklyn.

Hamilton Fish, member of an old Putnam County family, was
born at the State capital in 1849, while his father was Governor.
He graduated from law school in 1873 and practiced law in New
York for a few years until entering upon a political career, during
which time he held many offices, both appointive and elective. He
died January 15, 1936.

Hon. Robert A. Livingston, who was a resident of Garrison,
was a lawyer of remarkable ability. He was a member of the firm
of Livingston and Olcott in New York. He was Member of Assem¬
bly from Putnam County in 1882 and 1885.

PUTNAM COUNTY

877

Henry J. Rusk practiced law at Cold Spring- for several years
and served as district attorney of Putnam County from 1910 to
1917. He also served in the World War, 1917-18. His father,
Elisha N. Rusk, also served as district attorney in 1897, dying dur¬
ing the first year of his term.

William H. Weeks, member of a family which was among the
early settlers of the county, practiced law at Carmel and Brewster
for several years. He was a graduate of New York University
Law School and admitted to the bar in the nineties. He served as
district attorney from 1901 to 1909 and again in 1918 to fill the
vacancy caused by District Attorney Henry J. Rusk entering the
military service during the First World War. He was a member
of the County Board of Elections for a few years and county clerk
from 1915 to 1918. He was active in Masonic circles and noted
for his ability as an orator. Mr. Weeks defended Samuel Haynes,
Negro farm hand, for the murder of Mrs. John Harrison in Patter¬
son in 1914. Haynes was convicted and Mr. Weeks carried the
appeal to the Court of Appeals. The conviction was sustained and
his efforts for clemency by the Governor failed. At the request of
Haynes, Mr. Weeks witnessed his execution in Sing Sing on June
30, 1915. Mr. Weeks was a candidate for the Assembly in 1913.
He was also a member of the draft board in Putnam County for a
short time during the First World War.

Peter A. Anderson, who was born at Mahopac Mines in 1878,
was a graduate of the Syracuse Law School. He had an office in
Yonkers early in his career, but also carried on much legal business
from his home at Mahopac Falls until moving to Peekskill some
years before his death on October 5, 1940. He served a short time
as district attorney of Putnam County and was once a candidate for
county judge. He was a member of the Masonic Order and other
fraternal organizations.

Thomas T. Hill, member of a family that settled at Red Mills in
1763, was born July 1, 1849. He graduated from Princeton in
1871 and taught school several years. Later he took up the study
of law at the Albany Law School and graduated, 1910, and was
admitted to the bar in the same year. He then came to Carmel and
opened a law office in the house south of the county building and
continued until 1927, when he retired, due to ill health. He was a

8y8

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

candidate for district attorney and active in the Presbyterian
Church, being a delegate to the Presbytery, State Synod and Gen¬
eral Assembly on several occasions. He died August 6, 1929.

Robert Shadbolt came to Brewster in the 1920s and opened a
law office and practiced for about ten years, when due to illness, he
closed his office and moved away.

Towner Kent, of Patterson, was a lawyer, but never maintained
an office nor engaged actively in the practice of his profession there.
He was employed at various times in the legal department of one of
the Westchester title companies.

Alvin D. Pond was a lawyer in the office of the late J. Bennett
Southard at Cold Spring for several years and served as district
attorney of Putnam County from 1930 to 1933. Some years ago
he moved to Dutchess County.

Robert T. Wood, of Cold Spring, a son of the late Judge Wil¬
liam Wood, followed in the footsteps of his father as a lawyer and
while residing in Cold Spring maintained a law office in New York.
He has appeared occasionally in cases in the courts in Putnam
County. Some years ago he moved to Westchester County.

Ray S. Barnum, son of Frederick S. Barnum, while maintain¬
ing a law office in White Plains, appeared frequently in the various
courts in Putnam County.

Other members of the legal ‘profession who maintain offices or
now reside in Putnam County or who have appeared in the courts
during the past decade, include William Church Osborn, Vander¬
bilt Webb, Samuel Duryee, John P. Donohoe, the present district
attorney, all of Garrison; Joseph F. Greene, Francis C. Dale, J.
Rolland Stevenson, J. Bennett Southard, Jr., and James W. Bailey,
all of Cold Spring; Willis H. Ryder, Raymond B. Costello, Brad¬
ford Klock, all of Carmel; William C. Godsen, Joseph Sullivan, of
Mahopac; James E. Towner, Jr., of Patterson; Henry H. Wells,
Joseph C. Genovese, Theodore Schaefer, Doane Comstock, all of
Brewster; Howard Thomsen, of Putnam Valley, now in the mili¬
tary service. Biographical sketches of most of these lawyers
appear in this history.

During the past thirty years many men of the legal profession
have purchased homes in Putnam County, but maintain offices
elsewhere.

. PUTNAM COUNTY 879

Physicians and Medical Society — Putnam County, while hav¬
ing only a limited number of physicians practicing within the county
at any one time, the number ranging from fifteen to twenty, it has
been fortunate from its earliest days to have general practitioners
of keen ability and during some periods men whose reputations as
consultants and surgeons extended far beyond the borders of the
county.

Very few of the physicians who have practiced in Putnam were
native sons, but through long years in a village as the custodian
of the health of the people of the community, the country doctor,
who shared the joys and sorrows of nearly every family, became so

completely absorbed that in many cases he was considered an old

e »•
resident.

Dr. John Quincy Adams, a widely-known physician, who prac¬
ticed in Carmel before and after the Civil War, prepared an inter¬
esting chapter on the medical history of Putnam County for Pel-
letreau in 1886. In his introduction he relates that in the past only
limited facilities were available for the study of medicine with few
medical colleges, a scarcity of medical books and with but few hos¬
pitals or opportunities for clinical study, while the false delicacy
of the people allowed no advantages from dissection. Then a phy¬
sician received a preparation that would now be thought insufficient
to admit one to practice, for his medical education was such as he
could pick up while serving an apprenticeship to some noted prac¬
titioner, during which he combined the duties of a student with
many of the menial offices of a servant.

In the early days, when there were but few roads, the doctor
rode horseback to visit his patients, and as the roads improved, a
carriage made the frequent trips of ten to fifteen miles easier,
with sleighs available for the winter. To those physicians who
served during the days before improved highways or the advent
of the motor car about 1906, humanity owes an everlasting tribute
for their indomitable courage in traveling over these hills in sun¬
shine and rain, in darkness and snow-filled roads to bring medical
relief to those stricken with illness.

Dr. Adams summarizes the life of the physician of the early
days in this interesting sentence: “For his services he seldom
received money. He was glad to get corn, oats, potatoes, a few
hoop poles, a jag of wood for his fireplace, or the thanks of his

88o

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

patrons. He was present at every birth, he attended every burial,
he sat with the minister at every death-bed, and put his name with
the lawyer to every will.”

There were no hospitals in Putnam County until 1925, when
the Butterfield Memorial Hospital at Cold Spring with twenty-five
beds was completed. For years patients were removed to hospi¬
tals in Danbury, Peekskill, Beacon, Poughkeepsie or New York for
major operations, with the Northern Westchester Hospital in Mt.
Kisco being made available by its construction in 1916. In 1929
the Mahopac Emergency Hospital was opened for such cases, as
the name implies, during the day only. In 1939 its service was
enlarged with the purchase of a building on the former schoolhouse
site and it now has twelve beds and is principally used for maternity
cases, giving twenty-four-hour service.

However, transportation to hospitals before 1910 was a long
and tedious trip for accident cases and many operations, including
the amputation of limbs, were performed by the skilled surgeons
of the community perhaps in the kitchen, living room or bedroom
of the patients’ home by the light of a kerosene lamp.

Ambulance service became available for all sections of Putnam
County shortly before 1930 with the gift of an ambulance to the
Mahopac Fire Department by Michael J. Meehan. Money for the
first ambulance of the Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Hospital was
raised by popular subscription through the individual effort of
Charles Fullaway, soon after the hospital was completed. The
Brewster Fire Department also secured an ambulance about 1935.
These have been of inestimable value and answered hundreds of
calls during the years.

Very little information is recorded of the old Medical Society
of Putnam County. The earliest positive date is 1828, when Dr.
Aaron Carman, of Mahopac, became a member. It is said that
Dr. Ebenezer Fletcher, of Patterson, was the last president, and
he died in 1852. Another medical society was formed July 28,
1874, at a meeting in the Gleneida Hotel in Carmel. There were
nine present and Joseph H. Bailey, of Kent Cliffs, was chosen
president. On July 27, 1880, a meeting was held at the courthouse
and the society incorporated. Officers elected were: President,
Dr. N. W. Wheeler; vice-president, Dr. George W. Murdock;

PUTNAM COUNTY

88 1

secretary, Dr. N. B. Bailey; treasurer, Dr. A. LaMonte; censors,
J. H. Smith, Edward Crosby and J. Q. Adams.

Many of the physicians who practiced in Putnam County pre¬
vious to the Civil War served sometime as surgeons of various
regiments in the Union Army /luring the war. Others served their
country in a similar capacity during the First World War in 1917-
1918 and in the present World War Dr. John T. Jenkin, of Maho-
pac, has served in Hawaii and on various islands in the Pacific and
Dr. Alexander Vanderburg, of Brewster, is serving in India. Dr.
George H. Steacy, of Mahopac, also served as an army physician
for a year or more until honorably discharged.

Reed Convalescent Home in Southeast

An organization of the physicians of eastern Putnam County
preceded that of the present county society. In November, 1933,
doctors of the eastern part of the county met at the home of Dr.
Richie in Brewster and formed the Eastern Putnam Medical
Society. At that time it was found inconvenient for the doctors
of the western end of the county to meet. This group met once a
month at the home of a member and had a program at each meeting.
This eastern society was the start of the present county medical
society, which was organized two years later.

Only a few of the physicians mentioned in Pelletreau’s history
continued active during the fore part of the present century.
Among these were Dr. Austin LaMonte, of Carmel, and Dr. Lewis
H. Miller, who practiced in Brewster for several years after 1881

S.E.N.Y.— 56

882

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

and came to Carmel in the 1920s, and Dr. John A. Card, whose
office was at Mahopac for some years after 1882 until he moved
to White Plains.

There is no record of the length of time that this society was
active ; however, its activity ceased after a few years and the Put¬
nam County physicians joined with those of Dutchess in the
Dutchess-Putnam Medical Society and this relationship continued
until June, 1935, when the present Putnam County Medical Society
was formed at a meeting at the Carmel Country Club and the fol¬
lowing officers elected: President, Francis J. McKown; vice-
president, Coryell L. Clark; secretary, John T. Jenkin; treasurer,
Alexander Vanderburg; censors, William P. Kelly, Ralph M. Hall
and E. R. Richie. At this meeting Dr. Richie reported upon the
last meeting of the Dutchess-Putnam society relative to the separa¬
tion of the two county groups. The local society has since held
monthly meetings. The petition for the formation of the present
society was signed in 1934 by the local physicians. The certificate
of incorporation was received in 1935 and was ordered hung in the
Butterfield Hospital. Different members of the society have served
as president since 1935. The officers for 1944 were: President,
George H. Steacy; vice-president, Frank Genovese; secretary-
treasurer, Garrett W. Vink.

Biographical sketches of a number of doctors now practicing in
Putnam County appear elsewhere in this history.

Among the well-known physicians who have practiced in Put¬
nam County since 1900, some of whom are now dead, were : Addi¬
son Ely, James E. Reed, Francis J. McKown, J. D. Harrigan,
Lewis H. Miller, in Carmel; John C. Slawson, in Mahopac; Rich¬
ard Giles, John P. Fillebrown, Dr. Pennington, William Young,
John Young, J. B. Thompson, George Murdock, John Holland, Dr.
Lent, in Cold Spring ; Reed F. Haviland, George Banks, in Patter¬
son; W. N. Boynton, Louis G. Newman, James Wiltse, Willard
Ruggles, Thomas W. Sutton, Leslie A. Sutton, in Brewster.

In 1924 the Butterfield Memorial Hospital was erected at Cold
Spring. This was made possible through the bequest of Mrs. Julia
L. Butterfield in her will which gave $40,000 for a building fund,
$10,000 equipment fund and $100,000 maintenance fund. Mrs.
Butterfield died in 1913, but a contest of her will and other compli-

PUTNAM COUNTY

883

cated litigation delayed the payment of the bequests for the hospital
for nearly ten years. It was completed and opened February 13,
1925. The hospital cost $86,000 to construct and $16,000 to equip
and its capacity ranged from twenty-three to twenty-eight patients.
Many of the rooms were furnished by residents of Philipstown as
memorials to members of their families and others were furnished
by fraternal organizations of the town of Philipstown.

This hospital was found to be of real service to the community
and Putnam County generally from the day it opened, and by 1940
it was evident that its capacity should be increased and, in 1941, an

Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Hospital, Cold Spring

addition was built, doubling the bed capacity to fifty. A picture of
the present hospital, including the addition, appears in this history.

At a meeting of the physicians of the county on July 26, 1933,
they discussed the need of a permanent hospital for eastern Putnam
County. During the next seven years they continued consideration
of this project and in May, 1940, a committee conducted a campaign
to raise $150,000 to erect and equip the Eastern Putnam Hospital
with a fifty-bed capacity. The plan for a one-story rectangular
building was prepared and donated by Harvey Wiley Corbett, a
well-known architect, whose home is in the town of Kent. Efforts
to raise the $150,000 were unsuccessful and the plan was tempo¬
rarily abandoned, after which some of the contributions were trans¬
ferred to the Mahopac Hospital.

884

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Physicians practicing in Putnam County at the present time
are: Ralph M. Hall and Coryell Clark, in Cold Spring; Frank
Genovese, in Patterson; George H. Steacy and John T. Jenkin,
in Mahopac; William P. Kelly, Garrett W. Vink and Ferdinand
Lehr, in Carmel; E. R. Richie, Robert S. Cleaver and Alexander
Vanderburg, in Brewster. Dr. Henry W. Miller, a noted psychia¬
trist, who conducts the Miller Sanatorium in Southeast, is fre¬
quently called upon for consultation, while Dr. Walter Timme, a
celebrated neurologist, lives in Philipstown.

There are many physicians of the metropolitan area who have
country homes in Putnam County, but do not practice their profes¬
sion here.

About 1920 the first district nursing association was formed in
one of the townships and as people became more health conscious,
associations were formed in the other towns. Each is financed
jointly by private and public funds and each has a full time nurse.
They contribute greatly to improving health conditions through
visits to and examinations of children and adults and clinics for
various diseases. For several years past each central school has
employed a full time nurse as a further check on the health of
children.

The Putnam County Health Association was organized several
years ago and conducts the annual Christmas Seal sale, the proceeds
of which are used in the fight against tuberculosis.

Banking in Putnam County — By Clayton Ryder, President of
Putnam County National Bank — There appears to be no record of
any organized banking operations in Putnam County prior to the
enactment of the New York State Banking Act of 1838, although
a number of the county's residents were interested in New York
City financial institutions. Among them were Nelson and Alanson
Robinson, Eli and Robert W. Kelley, Daniel Drew, David Kent,
Samuel Towner and the two Samuel Sloans. Several of them were
stockholders of the Farmers Loan & Trust Company, probably the
first trust company ever incorporated, and at one time or another
were elected to its board of directors. There were also a number
of other well-to-do citizens of the county who made a practice of
money lending, such as Judge William Watts, Judge Frederic Stone
and Judge Walker Todd.

PUTNAM COUNTY

885

The nearest banks outside the county were those at Peekskill,
Somers, Pawling, Poughkeepsie and Danbury. Of the 350 corpo¬
rations, associations and individuals listed by the New York Super¬
intendent of Banks as engaged in or doing the business of banking
in the State at the beginning of the year 1857, seven were located
in Putnam County. Each had commenced with a listed capital of
at least $100,000 and had deposited securities to secure a circula¬
tion of approximately the same amount.

The Putnam County Bank was incorporated November 22,
1848, by Nelson Robinson, Robert W. Kelley and David Kent to
conduct business at Farmers Mills in the town of Kent, which was
then a busy milling and trading center of the eastern part of the
county. David Kent was its president and Horace Townsend its
cashier. Following its voluntary close in 1855, the Bank of Kent
was incorporated February 27, 1856, by David Kent, Lewis Lud-
ington and George Ludington to conduct business at Ludingtonville
in the same town with David Kent as president and George Luding¬
ton as cashier. It continued to operate successfully until its busi¬
ness was rendered unprofitable by the passage of the National Bank
Act on October 7, 1864.

In 1849 two individual bankers qualified and commenced the
business of banking. Samuel Washburn opened the Merchants &
Farmers Bank at Carmel and Abraham Smith, the Putnam Valley
Bank at his residence, long known as Smith’s Corners in the town
of Putnam Valley. Both of these banks ceased to operate in 1854
upon the decease of their respective proprietors.

Ebenezer Kelley opened the Bank of Commerce at Carmel in
1853 and successfully operated it until the era of the national banks.
His chief financial associate was Edward C. Weeks, of New York,
and his cashier was Warren Townsend.

Reuben D. Baldwin conducted the Lake Mahopac Bank at his
hotel at Lake Mahopac from 1854. His cashier was Felix C.
Biven. Although his business was greatly curtailed by the new
conditions arising under the Federal system, he continued, in
default of another bank at the then famous watering place, until
1881, when he was obliged to close.

Upon the advent of the New York & Harlem Railroad and the
development of Brewster’s Station as a new business center, the

886 SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

time seemed favorable for a bank at that place. Accordingly, the
Croton River Bank was organized to operate there with capital
furnished by the incorporators, Thomas Drew, Silas Mead, Charles
W. Hine, Hiram Starr, William F. Fowler, Isaac Kelley and James
E. Kelley, who constituted the first board of directors. Thomas
Drew was its president and Thomas H. Reed its first cashier. Its
first quarterly report showed assets and liabilities of $278,756.
This was one of the first State banks to become a national bank
under the National Banking Act, changing its name to the Croton
River National Bank and increasing its capital to $200,000. Its
new officers were: Thomas Drew, president; James E. Kelley,
vice-president; and Francis E. Foster, cashier. Its authorization
certificate bore date February 22, 1865. Its quarterly report for
October 1, 1865, showed assets and liabilities of $502,627.35. Pel-
letreau’s history states that it closed by a vote of its directors in
1876. Notice to its note holders and other creditors to present
their notes and claims for payment was published from June 6,
1874. James E. Kelley was its president and Francis E. Foster its
cashier at that time.

Prior to the closing of the bank last above-named, a banking
office was opened in Brewster by John G. Borden and Frank Wells
under the name of Borden, Wells & Company, primarily to handle
the large and growing business of the Borden Condensed Milk
Company, whose first factory commenced operating in that village.
Before the closing was completed, however, the proprietor of the
banking house joined with others interested in the milk company
and organized the First National Bank of Brewster with a capital
of $100,000. The incorporators were John G. Borden, Frank Mil¬
ler, George B. Mead, Jr., John S. Eno, Samuel W. Church and
B. F. Evans, all of whom except Mr. Church constituted the first
board of directors. The first president was John G. Borden, who
was succeeded in turn by Charles Denton, George B. Mead, Jr.,
Frank Wells. Henry H. Wells and J. Douglas Mead, Jr. The first
cashier was Frank Wells, succeeded by Edward D. Stannard, the
present incumbent, who has been connected with the bank in
various capacities since 1886.

Upon the passage of the National Banking Act, both the Bank
of Kent, located at Ludingtonville, and the Bank of Commerce,

PUTNAM COUNTY

887

already located at Carmel, desired to convert to a national bank
status and open for business at the county seat. The circum¬
stances, however, did not warrant the granting of two charters for
so small a locality, and it became a question as to which should be
favored. The two banks settled the matter amicably between them¬
selves and both of the State banks closed their business and a new
organization was formed.

The Putnam County National Bank of Carmel was organized
March 14, 1865, with a capital of $100,000 by G. Mortimer Belden,
George Ludington, David Kent, Joseph H. Bailey, John Town¬
send, Addison J. Hopkins, Harrison H. Travis, Ambrose Ryder,
James Smith and James J. Smalley. Its first officers were: G.
Mortimer Belden, president; Ambrose Ryder, vice-president; and
George Ludington, cashier. Succeeding presidents were Sylvester
Mabie from 1869, Ambrose Ryder 1886, and Clayton Ryder 1892;
and cashiers, Ambrose Ryder 1874, Hillyer Ryder 1886, Stephen
Ryder 1908, and Leland Ryder 1926. The capital structure has
been changed from time to time, but now stands at the original
amount of $100,000.

No State bank was established at Cold Spring, New York.
The financial needs of the local community were chiefly met by the
banks in Peekskill, Newburgh, Matteawan and Fishkill, while the
business connections of its principal industry, the Cold Spring
Foundry, were all in New York City. The National Bank of Cold
Spring-on-Hudson was chartered September 17, 1890, with a capi¬
tal of $50,000 issued to forty-four original subscribers, fifteen of
whom constituted its first board of directors. The first president
was Major General Daniel Butterfield, succeeded by Jacob G.
Southard in 1902 and Dr. Coryell Clark in 1920. The cashiers
have been D. W. Harkness, followed by F. R. Amerman in 1912
and Michael A. Malone in 1930.

. The Mahopac National Bank was organized September, 1927,
by Emerson Clark, Edward S. Agor, William H. Agor, William
H. Spain and Hillyer Ryder, who served as its first board of direc¬
tors. The first president was Edward S. Agor, followed by Emer¬
son Clark in 1936 and William H. Spain in 1940. The first cashier
was Herbert S. Bell, who resigned in April, 1934. George F.
Agor was then assistant cashier and was appointed cashier in 1935*

888

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

The original capital stock was $25,000. The capital structure was
changed from time to time and is now $60,000.

The first and only savings bank of the county is The Putnam
County Savings Bank, incorporated as a mutual savings bank at
Brewster in 1871 by twenty-one of the residents of that village and
vicinity. Its presidents have been: Morgan Horton from 1871;
Warren S. Paddock, 1889; Alexander F. Lobdell, Jr., 1915; and
George E. Jennings, 1940. Its treasurers: F. A. Hoyt, 1871;
Alexander F. Lobdell, 1887; Alexander F. Lobdell, Jr., 1907;
George H. Reynolds, 1911; Arthur G. Strang, 1932; and Mar¬
garet R. Mackey, 1934. Its resources and deposits have steadily
risen. On January 1, 1945, they stood, respectively, at $3,440,-
920.04 and $3,018,982.71 for the account of 3,988 depositors.

The Putnam County Trust Company was organized at Brew¬
ster, January 11, 1916, under the sponsorship of Frank Wells, who
designed to establish it for the purpose of furnishing local trust
facilities to the people of the county and immediate vicinity, without
stressing it as a new banking venture, or encroaching upon the busi¬
ness of other local banks. The consent of the State Banking
Department was reluctantly given and the corporation opened for
business about August 1 in a new building erected by Mr. Wells
for that purpose. Frank Wells was its president and Wilson H.
Crane treasurer. As the desired business developed slowly, owing
to the limited field of operations, the State Superintendent of
Banks, on April 28, 1919, notified the corporation of his wish that
it be dissolved. The deposits were then slightly in excess of
$45,000. The final order of dissolution was granted January 31,
1921.

The local trust facilities which Mr. Wells and his associates had
in mind still seemed desirable, but it was not until 1928 that the
Putnam County National Bank of Carmel ventured to open a trust
department. This was done in April of that year with the proper
consent of the Federal Reserve Bank and authorization of the State
Bank Department. Leland C. Ryder was the first trust officer and
H. Carl Northrup assistant trust officer, followed somewhat later
by the appointment of Mr. Northrup as trust officer.

Each of the above national banks and the savings bank began
business in leased quarters, but in time erected and owned its own

PUTNAM COUNTY

889

bank building. The savings bank constructed an office building,
the street floor of which was reserved for its own use. This was
opened in May, 1911.

Each of the national banks built for its own use only. The
bank building at Brewster was opened in 1886; the one at Cold
Spring was purchased in July and opened in October, 1925 ; the one
at Carmel was opened May 3, 1926, and the one at Mahopac in
1930.

At the close of business, December 31, 1944, the combined
assets of the four national banks were $7,383,781.05 and the
deposits $6,663,730.38.

Newspapers — While the “Gazetteer of New York” says a news¬
paper was published in Carmel in 1814, no other record of this
paper has been found. The “Gazetteer” gave its name as “Putnam
Republican” and Thomas Smith as the printer.

The first newspaper in Putnam County of which there is an
authentic record was “The Putnam County Courier,” which has
continued to be published since its establishment in 1841. It is the
oldest newspaper between New York and Poughkeepsie. It was
established in Carmel by William H. Sloat as “The Putnam Demo¬
crat.” Afterwards it passed into the hands of Elijah Yerks and
James D. Little became its editor. In October, 1849, the name was
changed to “Democratic Courier.” On January 10, 1852, James
D. Little purchased the paper and changed the name to “The Put¬
nam County Courier.” He sold it in i860 to Charles Benedict,
who transferred it to B. F. Armstrong in 1864. Mr. Little again
came into possession and sold it in 1876 to James J. McNally.
Three years later it was again in the possession of Mr. Little, who
published it until his death in 1883. Mrs. Little and a daughter,
Annie, then managed the paper until 1890, when she sold it to
James A. Zickler and Stephen Ryder. Two years later Mr. Zick-
ler purchased the interest of Mr. Ryder and has since 1892 been the
owner and editor.

June 12, 1858, William J. Blake founded the “Putnam County
Republican” in Carmel, the first Republican newspaper in the
county. It was first called the “Putnam Free Press.” In October,
1868, it was sold to A. J. Hicks, who changed its name to “The

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

890

Gleneida Monitor” and subsequently to “The Putnam County Moni¬
tor,” by which name it continued until February 14, 1880, when it
was purchased by Ida M. Blake, who changed the name to “Put¬
nam County Republican.” She continued as editor until her death
in 1939 and it was successively published by her two sisters,
Corinne, until her death in 1941, and the last member of the fam¬
ily, Adelaide, until her death in 1942. During all these years it
remained one of the hand set newspapers and strange as it may
seem never had telephone service. Following the death of Adelaide
Blake, the “Republican” was printed without interruption of a sin¬
gle issue by “The Putnam County Courier” for the executors of
the estate until the “Republican” was purchased by Assemblyman
D. Mallory Stephens, under the name of Putnam County Republi¬
can, Incorporated, a corporation consisting of himself and members
of his family. Mr. Stephens has since continued its publication,
having all the mechanical work done in the plant of the “Courier.”

In Brewster H. A. Fox established the first newspaper in 1869
and known as the “Brewster Gazette.” It was succeeded by the
“Brewster Standard,” November 15, 1871, the editors being H. A.
Fox and O. H. Miller. It was changed to “Putnam County Stand¬
ard” in April, 1874, and was then conducted by Frank Wells and
Emerson W. Addis, the latter being an experienced printer. Mr.
Addis was editor and foreman of the “Standard” under the man¬
agement of Mr. Wells from May 1, 1874, to April 1, 1877, and
continued in this capacity under the management of John G. Bor¬
den from April 1, 1877, to April 1, 1880, when he purchased the
paper and continued as its owner and editor until his death on
August 23, 1922. The management of the paper was then con¬
tinued by his son, Emerson W. Addis, and his daughter, Marjorie
L. Addis, the latter having continued as editor since the death of
her brother on March 7, 1937. Emerson W. Addis, Sr., was active
throughout his life in Republican politics and served two terms as
Assemblyman from Putnam County in 1897 and 1898.

Charles Blanchard, in the spring of 1866, founded the “Cold
Spring Recorder,” the only newspaper in the western part of the
county until early in the 1900s. In November, 1867, he sold it to
a company composed of prominent residents of Cold Spring and
Sylvester B. Allis, a native of Fairfield, Connecticut, was put in

PUTNAM COUNTY

891

charge. Mr. Allis later purchased all the shares and continued it
until his death. On September 18, 1891, the Allis estate sold it to
Irving P. McCoy. About 1907 Otis Montrose, who was the prin¬
cipal of the Haldane School, purchased it and continued its publica¬
tion until his death in 1937, after which his nephew, Stanley White,
continued it for a short time, until he sold it in 1938 to Osborn
Webb, who consolidated it with “The Putnam County News,”
which he had previously acquired.

About 1900 another small weekly paper, called “The Sentinel,”
appeared in Cold Spring. It was published by William P. Allis
until 1915, when it suspended. A Mr. Scofield established “The
Philipstown News” about 1920, but after a few years this paper
also suspended.

Francis C. Dale established “The Putnam County Reporter”
about 1932. A short time later he sold it to an employee, but found
it necessary to again take over the ownership. In 1933 George W.
Seymour, an experienced newspaper man, continued its publication
under the name of “The Putnam County News” until 1937, when
he sold it to Osborn Webb. In 1939 Mr. Webb sold his paper to
John G. Ladue, the present owner and editor.

Mahopac had a paper for a few years in the 1870s. Only a few
copies are still available among the relics of by-gone days and
prized by some of the descendants of the early families. The length
of time it was published cannot be learned now, nor the name of its
editor or publisher. It was called the “Mahopac Herald” and the
writer recalls examining one copy nearly twenty-five years ago.
Other papers have existed in Mahopac for short periods. The
“Mahopac Mercury,” published by Patrick Ryan and George Dagle
was established in 1931 and is still being published.

In Patterson, George S. Williams established the “Patterson
Weekly News” about 1900 and continued its publication until May,
1919, when he sold it to Ray Dalzell, of Pawling, who consolidated
it with his Pawling paper under the name of “Pawling-Patterson
News.”

■ ■

•

CHAPTER VII

Religion and Education

CHAPTER VII

Religion and Education

When the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from England in 1620, one of
the predominating causes of their departure was the tyranny of
King James I, who insisted that everyone must worship God in a
certain way. They desired freedom of worship and established it
on the shores of New England, where they landed. They prayed
before starting the long, treacherous journey, during the ocean
voyage and upon landing. It was, therefore, natural that one of
their first acts would be the foundation of a church and the estab¬
lishment of a day of thanks after the harvest had been gathered
the following year.

As the Colony increased in size, members moved westward and
freedom of worship still dominant found the erection of a church
considered essential in each community.

It was over a century after the landing of the pilgrims that the
westward movement reached the eastern part of what is now Put¬
nam County and here they founded the first church. Early rec¬
ords indicate that a few persons, probably moving north from New
Amsterdam, were settled in parts of the county, but the major early
settlers came from New England and brought with them the form
of religious thought prevailing in the communities from which they
came; therefore, we find the early churches in this region Calvin-
istic in doctrine and Congregational in polity, although all of these
eventually became Presbyterian.

The earliest certain information of the movement of church
life in this county was in 1742, when according to the records of
the Eastern Association of Fairfield County, Connecticut, John
Spragg applied to that association for a minister. John Spragg

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

896

lived on what is now the Kessman farm, between Carmel and Tilly
Foster, where the highway crosses the railroad on an overhead
bridge. Rev. Elisha Kent was appointed and, according to old
authentic records, served two churches, both log structures. One
stood a mile east of the Dykemans Railroad Station and, in 1745,
was referred to as a landmark. The date of its erection is unknown.
The other log church, built by the “Western Society in Philipse
Precinct” about 1745, was on land owned by the late Elisha Fow¬
ler and his estate until sold to Elizabeth Douglass. It stood on a
rocky knoll just west of the present settlement of Tilly Foster.
Across the road from the site of this church is an old burying
ground.

The log church near Dykemans station was later replaced by
two other structures, the last being the present Old Southeast
Church at Doanesburgh, erected in 1794. The log church at Tilly
Foster was abandoned after a few years, for a new church that
stood near the Gilead burying ground south of Carmel village. A
pastor was installed in this new church in 1756. Enoch Crosby,
patriot spy of the Revolution, was a member and deacon of this
church for more than thirty years. Elnathan Gregory was pastor
for thirteen years, until 1773, and it was afterwards known as
Gregory’s Parish. He preached a powerful sermon from the
text: “Is there no balm in Gilead?” The name was afterward
also applied to the lake.

With the village growing on the shore of Lake Gilead a new
Presbyterian Church was erected in 1836 on the site of the present
church. This old white frame structure was sold to Bryant S.
Palmer in 1893, moved across the street and converted into a store
with an assembly hall on the second floor. It was destroyed by fire
in 1907. A new church was erected in 1893. This was destroyed
by fire in September, 19 22, and the present church, an exact dupli¬
cate of the one destroyed, was at once erected on the same site. A
parsonage was built just east of the church about 1900 to replace
the one destroyed by fire which was located on Brewster Avenue.

Other Presbyterian churches were erected in Patterson, Brew¬
ster and Red Mills, now Mahopac Falls. At Patterson the church
was founded by Rev. David Close about 1775, although records
indicate that a pastor was installed by the Presbyterians in 1758.

PUTNAM COUNTY

897

The first church stood at the end of the Patterson main street near
the junction of the roads to Carmel and Holmes. An inventory in
1796 mentions this old church and also a new church, which stood
a little west of the present church, which was built in 1836. Rev.
Epenetus P. Benedict served as pastor for nearly forty years, con¬
ducted a private school and was widely known in eastern Putnam
as a speaker. In 1867 the church was enlarged about one-third by
the extension of the building to the north. In 1873 the parish
house, across the street from the church, was built. In 1928 the
parish house was extensively remodeled and improved and has been
used for Sunday school sessions and various social activities.

A church was erected at Southeast Center in 1854, an offshoot
of the church at Doanesburgh, and services were held there until
early in the present century. The increasing population in the vil¬
lage of Brewster seemed to demand that the church should be
located in the village and in 1884 the present church was erected at
a cost of $12,000. In 1916 the Reed Memorial Chapel was erected
with funds from a legacy left by William B. Reed, Jr., of Brew¬
ster. The chapel is connected to the church and contains a Sunday
school room which will seat 125 and also a kitchen.

At Red Mills the Presbyterian Church was established about
1761. The first building was erected in 1784 and stood on the site
of the present church. In 1819 it was repaired and a stove added.
A new building was erected in 1833, which continued in use until
1876, when it was remodeled into the present building, the Sunday
school room being added. This building had formerly stood near
the church and was used as a private school.

Baptist Denomination — The Baptist denomination was prob¬
ably the second to organize and the family of Elisha Cole are
supposed to have been the first Baptists settled here. The society
was organized at Carmel about 1770, with outdoor meetings in
the summer, while during the winter meetings were held in the
homes of members. Between 1780 and 1785 a building was
moved to the west side of the street south of the present church.
This was used till 1806, when a second church was built on the lot
now occupied by the parsonage. The society was incorporated

S.E.N.Y. — 57

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

898

February 16, 1807, and the third church built in 1836 on the site
of the present church and remained until 1869, when the present
church was erected at a cost of $33,000. Of the many pastors of
this church, perhaps the most noteworthy was the Rev. W. S.
Clapp, who served thirty years, and an entire generation grew up
under his care. His influence was fully recognized among the
Baptist churches throughout the county as well as the councils of
the various ministers of all denominations. He was elected Assem¬
blyman in 1872. He died in 1889 and was buried in the church¬
yard at the north of the entrance to the church.

In Patterson the second Baptist Church was organized in 1780.
The date of the first building is not known, but it stood on the north
side of the Patterson-Carmel Road, about a mile and a half north
of the present church. It was known as the Second Baptist Church
of Frederickstown and about 1795 changed to “Franklin Baptist
Church.” Tradition states that the old church was moved to the
site of the present church at Towners Four Corners about 1812 and
was enlarged. In 1836 a new church replaced the old one on the
same site. The present church was erected in 1867.

In 1782 the Kent and Fishkill Baptist Church at Farmers Mills
was constituted and meetings held in various homes and in the
Carmel Baptist Meetinghouse until 1800, when a house of worship
was erected on the ground of the present building. A second
church was dedicated September 16, 1840. This church was
destroyed by fire in 1905 and the present church erected in 1907 on
the same foundation. The first meeting was held in the present
church December 29, 1907, and it was dedicated on January 23,
1908.

In February, 1867, a Baptist society was organized at Dyke-
mans and on December 22, 1868, the church building was com¬
pleted and dedicated. On August 17, 1872, this society was admit¬
ted to the Union Association. In 1882 Amos C. Dykeman died
and in his will left his farm to the church after the death of his
wife. The church never had a settled pastor, but the pulpit has
been supplied by ministers of neighboring Baptist churches, and
in recent years the Rev. H. P. Simpson, of the Carmel Baptist
Church, has conducted services there on Sunday afternoons. Since

Ludingtonville. Erected in 1844. Typical of the early Colonial churches that
were built in Putnam County

Kent Baptist Church at

; econd

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

900

Mr. Simpson has been a chaplain in the army, Rev. Edward Roosa,
of the Ludingtonville Baptist Church, has conducted the services
at Dykemans.

At Kent Cliffs the First Baptist Church of Kent was consti¬
tuted October 4, 1810, and meetings held in the schoolhouse or
homes of members until 1831 when a meetinghouse was erected on
land given by Ebenezer Boyd, across the Croton and directly east
of the present church, which was dedicated September 29, 1869,
on land given by Platt Parker. Construction of Boyd’s Reservoir
made it necessary to remove the old church and at that time the
present one was erected, but it has been remodeled and improved
since its construction.

The Red Mills Baptist Church at Mahopac Falls was organ¬
ized in 1832 by Elder John Warren at a meeting at the home of
Isaac Barrett. In the summer meetings were held in the orchard
of Mr. Barrett. The church lot was purchased that year and the
church erected soon after. In 1868 the edifice was remodeled at a
cost of $13,000 as it appears today with the exception of the Sun¬
day school room which was added in 1902.

At Ludingtonville the Second Baptist Church of Kent was
organized December 5, 1844, with eighty members. The present
church was built in 1844 and was repaired and rededicated Decem¬
ber 24, 1878.

Rev. W. W. Ferris conducted the first Baptist services at
Brewster in 1867. After this meetings were held in Kelley’s
Hall near the depot and later in the Masonic Hall. The present
church lot was purchased June 7, 1870, and the church dedicated
December 28, 1871. Its cost was $15,000.

All of these Baptist churches are members of the Union Asso¬
ciation, while a few churches in northern Westchester also belong
to this association.

The first and only Baptist Church in Putnam Valley was estab¬
lished in May, 1841, at Croft’s Corners and the first meeting held
April 16, 1842. There were about thirty members and meetings
were held at homes of members. While mention was made in the
records of a meeting “held in the meeting house” in 1842, there
seems to be some doubt whether a Baptist Church was ever built.

PUTNAM COUNTY

901

The church was named “The Baptist Central Society in Philips-
town.” The Methodists had gained in strength at Croft’s Cor¬
ners and built a church before the Baptists and the Baptist organi¬
zation seems to have long since disbanded.

Methodist Denomination — In 1788 Freeborn Garrettson and
his assistant preachers introduced Methodism up the Hudson
River region and it spread rapidly in all directions. As early a"
1789 the preachers found many houses open to them and Lieuten¬
ant Governor Van Cortlandt, near the Croton River, became the
ardent friend of them and in honor of him the region for sixty
years was known as the Cortlandt circuit. For many years serv¬
ices were held in various homes and in the schoolhouses.

The first Methodist society was organized and incorporated
July 14, 1822, at the home of Benjamin Townsend at Mahopac.
A plot of ground was given the society by Nathaniel Crane. This
began some distance east of the present Catholic Church on Sun¬
set Road and extended to the lake shore. On the most elevated
spot of this tract a Colonial white wooden church was erected in
1826 which seemed to be anchored among the tombstones of
departed members in the Methodist cemetery adjoining. John
Drawyer, one of the early members of this church, persuaded the
trustees to sell to him the land between the old Carmel Road and
the lake shore. Had not this blunder in real estate been made, the
present Methodist society would doubtless have its church and par¬
sonage on the lake shore with its sloping lawns reaching down to
the blue waters as they come with their perennial freshness rolling
toward the land.

However, this tract was purchased by Father Murray with the
money received from the city for the old Catholic Church and
property and on it he erected the present Catholic Church and
rectory.

About 1922 the Methodists abandoned their Colonial church
and built the present stone church at the junction of the Boulevard
and Mt. Hope Road, near the Mahopac Hotel. Two other par¬
sonages have been used during the years, but both were too far
from the church and about 1906 the present parsonage was built
and is situated across the street from the Mahopac Hospital. This

902

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

parish includes the Union Valley Chapel and also the Mount Hope
Methodist Church at Mahopac Mines. The former was built and
dedicated in i860 to accommodate people living in that vicinity.
Services were held regularly until the past twenty-five years. Since
then there has been an annual service. The Mahopac Mines
church was erected after the society was organized on March 4,
1876, at a meeting in the schoolhouse. After the mines were
opened several houses were erected and the little church prospered,
but after the closing of the mines, it had to depend on the smaller
number of agriculturists, but has maintained its organization and
services have been continued quite regularly.

Two Methodist societies were organized in Putnam Valley in
1834. one at Croft’s Corners on March 12 and one at Tompkins
Corners on March 26. The society in Carmel was organized on
July 15, 1834, and the one at Brewster on January 20, 1835. A
church was soon erected by each society. In 1844 the Methodists
in the northern part of Putnam Valley organized and erected the
Mountain Chapel and services were continued for a half century,
but due to all the inhabitants moving away, no service has been
held there for many years. In 1859 a Methodist Church was
organized at Oregon in Putnam Valley and the church erected in
i860 at a cost of $1,400. The three churches have for some years
comprised the Putnam V alley circuit and are supplied by one pastor.

At Brewster the first Methodist Church was erected in 1837.
It stood on the east side of the Croton River south of the New
England Railroad, where the Eaton Kelley Company office is now
located. The church was named “Doanesville Methodist Episcopal
Church,” but was later changed to “Heddingville” after Bishop
Hedding. In 1853 the church was enlarged. As the village grew
in size, a new church was erected on Main Street in 1863. The cost
was $16,000, of which Daniel Drew and family gave half. This
church which has been since remodeled and improved is the present
church and since 1867 known as First Methodist Church of South¬
east. About 1930 a new primary room was added.

At Carmel a plain wooden church edifice, was erected by the
newly-organized society in 1834 on the southern portion of the
site of the present church. This edifice was repaired and improved
and rededicated in 1853. The first Sunday school was organized

PUTNAM COUNTY

9<>3

in 1852. In 1862 Carmel was made a separate station with the
chapel at Drewville connected with it. The Drewville Chapel had
previously been erected to serve a number of families of means
residing- in that section. It was located a short distance southeast
of the present four corners known as Hopkins Corners. A house
and lot north of the Carmel Church were purchased for a parson¬
age and in 1863 a subscription started for a new church and about
$10,000 secured. In 1864 the present parsonage lot was purchased,
the old church sold to J. J. Smalley, who moved it up the main
street and added it to the Smalley House, an historic hotel. The
present stone church was erected and dedicated in 1865 by Bishop
Simpson. The entire cost was nearly $40,000 and as Daniel Drew
contributed the major part, it was called the Daniel Drew Metho¬
dist Episcopal Church, although the incorporated name of the
society was and still is “The Carmelville Methodist Episcopal
Church.” The organ, which cost $3,500, was the gift of Daniel D.
Chamberlain, a grandson of Daniel Drew. The old parsonage was
partially destroyed by fire in 1922 and, soon after, the present par¬
sonage was erected. In 1944 the pulpit was remodeled and a choir
stand built on the south side of the church.

Episcopal Churches — The first Episcopal Church is said to have
been organized at Patterson in 1770 and a lot for the church and
a half acre for a burying ground reserved out of a survey in 1782.
A meeting was held July 5, 1797, and the name “Christ Church”
was chosen. For some years thereafter there are no records. In
1835 a meeting was held and $1,100 raised to build a new church.
It was dedicated in 1837 and remodeled in 1856. This was a Colo¬
nial type structure painted white. I11 1901 this structure was
taken down and a new church erected by Mrs. James H. Cornwall
as a memorial to her mother. This building was destroyed by fire
in 19 1 1 and in the same year the present church was erected on the
same site and is very similar in design to the one that burned.

Dr. Joseph H. Bailey, a well-known physician of Kent, was
responsible for the organization and erection of two Episcopal
chapels in Kent, and he gave the land for each. The Episcopal
chapel of St. John the Baptist was organized at Kent Cliffs March
8, 1878, and the chapel which stood at the turn in the Carmel-Kent

904

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Road, a few hundred feet south of the intersection with the Peeks-
kill Hollow Road, was erected about 1882. For some years after
1910 services were discontinued in this church and about 1918 the
building was taken down. The Bailey heirs transferred the title
to the property to Coleman Bennett, who erected a new house on
the site of the church. At Richardsville west of Kent Cliffs, an
Episcopal chapel was erected about 1873 and for many years had
a good sized congregation, but the number of communicants
decreased rapidly during the present century and while only a few
now attend, services are held fairly regularly. The rector of the
Mahopac Church has been in charge of this chapel many years.

On August 26, i860, the Episcopal Church at Mahopac was
organized and the first services held at the “Horton Cottage” south
of the Gregory House. Until the church was erected services were
held in various homes, in the summer hotels and occasionally in the
Methodist Church. The present church is a memorial by Egisto
P. Fabbir to his brother, Enesto, who died at Mahopac. The pres¬
ent church was consecrated April 21, 1884. The belfry and bell,
chancel window and other furnishings are memorials to other well-
known residents. In 1898 the present rectory was built adjoining
the church.

In Brewster Episcopalian activity began in 1872 when a Sun¬
day school was organized in the town hall by Smith G. Hunt. It
had seven scholars. Some months later a mission worker held
monthly services in the town hall from 1873-76 and on April 28,
1874, the Right Rev. Bishop Horatio Potter preached in the town
hall. Rev. Mr. Russell, of North Salem, then held services until
1882. The town hall burned in 1880 and at this time funds were
gathered to build a church. Seth B. Howes gave the lot on Pros¬
pect Street, the corner stone was laid August 16, 1880, and the first
service held in the church early in 1881. The first legal meeting
preparatory to incorporation was held August 29, 1881, when the
name St. Andrew’s was chosen. The parish was admitted into
union with the Diocesan Convention of 1882. Rev. Ralph Wood
Kenyon was the first rector. Mr. Howes purchased another lot
adjoining the church on the north about 1900 and the old church
was moved there for a Sunday school and parish house and Mr.
Howes erected a new stone church on the site of the old one at a

PUTNAM COUNTY

905

cost of $21,000. It was opened for service April 7, 1901. The
rectory lot was purchased and the rectory built in 1887-88. On
July 3, 1901, the new church was destroyed by fire. Work of
rebuilding was begun at once and the present church was conse¬
crated in 1903.

Several missions were established by St. Andrew’s as follows :

In 1894 Sunday evening services were conducted in the DeFor-
est Chapel in Milltown and continued for one and a half years.
During 1896-98 services were maintained at St. James’ Mission,
Dykemans, a private house, chiefly for the Swedish people. On
June 3, 1894, services were held in the schoolhouse at Tilly Foster.
There was much enthusiasm and on June 28, 1896, a comfortable
chapel was opened on a lot donated by Mr. and Mrs. Willard J.
Dykeman. Services were discontinued here in 1924 and in 1930
the chapel was destroyed by fire. A small store and the Tilly Fos¬
ter post office now occupy the site.

On February 9, 1896, at Deans Corners, two miles south of
Brewster, was founded St. Peter’s Chapel, and the chapel building
opened for service August 15, 1898. Service continued regularly
until November, 1906, when the property was taken by the City
of New York for the Deans Corners Reservoir.

Communicants of both the Tilly Foster and Deans Corners
chapels continued their worship at St. Andrew’s Church in
Brewster.

Catholic Churches — Catholic services were first held in Putnam
County at Cold Spring, where a church was established in 1834.
In eastern Putnam the first Catholic services were held in 1850 in
Brewster at the homes of members and in 1870 the first church, a
wooden structure, was erected on Prospect Street. It was known
as the “Church of St. Lawrence O’Toole.” The rectory was built
in the early 1880s and has been enlarged and improved since then.
The new stone church was erected in 1915. While the parish
included Croton Falls, Mahopac, Katonah, Brewster, Carmel and
Towners for some years it was divided in 1880, retaining Brew¬
ster, Carmel and Towners. At Towners a Catholic Church was
built in 1875, but services at Carmel were held for many years in
a hall over Palmer’s store, where the County Memorial Building

90 6

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

now stands. In 1909 the present St. Joseph’s Catholic Church was
erected on Brewster Avenue in Carmel. In 1934, through the
generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Hance, a Catholic Church was
erected at Putnam Lake to serve the members of that large devel¬
opment. This is known as the Church of the Sacred Heart and is
under the jurisdiction of St. Lawrence parish in Brewster.

At Mahopac a lot was given the Catholics by Reuben D. Bald¬
win on December 5, 1866. This was situated in the settled part
of the village north of the Putnam railroad station and east of the
present Route 6. The church was built and dedicated in 1869.
When the City of New York condemned that section for its water¬
shed in 1900, Father Murray took the money received and pur¬
chased the site of the present church and built the present St. John
the Evangelist Church and rectory. It has since been enlarged and
remodeled. This parish also includes the churches at Carmel and
Lake Carmel.

With the growth of the Lake Carmel development after 1930,
it was evident that there were sufficient people to support a Protes¬
tant and a Catholic Church. In 1933 the Community Church, a
small wooden structure, was erected for Protestant services and
here the Rev. Howard N. Webb, of Mt. Vernon, a minister of the
Methodist faith, has conducted services on Sunday each summer
since then. The attendance at times each summer taxes the capacity
of the chapel.

Catholic residents of the Lake Carmel development at first
attended services at the church in Carmel. To relieve the conges¬
tion at the Carmel church, as well as to make it more convenient for
the residents, Rev. Daniel E. Kiernan consented to the celebration
of Mass on Sundays and holy days during July and August at the
Lake Carmel clubhouse. This was followed by the donation of
twenty-six building lots by the Smadbeck brothers for the construc¬
tion of a church. A committee was formed in September, 1934,
to organize the church. A general meeting of the people was held
at the Holy Family Auditorium in the Bronx on November 13,
1934, to consider means of raising funds. The first Mass, a Field
Mass, was celebrated on the property on Sunday, July 5, 1936, by
the Rev. Harold Higgins, O. M. Cap., from Garrison, with more
than three hundred people present. After the Mass, ground was

PUTNAM COUNTY

907

broken by Joseph P. Shea, of Cold Spring, former county judge,
who also spoke. Other speakers were John J. Brennan, Dr. Smad-
beck, P. Stephen Noonan, who was chairman of the committee.
A remarkable feature of the construction of the church was the
fact that much of the work on it was done by volunteer labor of
the residents, some of whom were non-Catholics. On May 10,
1938, Rt. Rev. Monsignor Edward V. Dargin, pastor of Croton
Falls, was appointed to assume charge of the still unfinished
church. Under his supervision advances in construction were made
and he celebrated the first Mass in the church on May 29, 1938.
The Rev. William F. McCarthy was assigned to the church in
1940 and made further improvements. When he was transferred
on March 6, 1943, the Rev. Daniel J. Hughes was appointed. The
church is called Our Lady of the Lake. Much work still remains to
be done on the church and grounds.

A Pentecostal society was organized at Farmers Mills about
191 1 by Rachel Lee, a worker who came from Poughkeepsie. They
purchased the building that had been used by the Elgin Butter
Creamery Company and held services there. This building was
destroyed by fire in 1931 and rebuilt in 1933. In 1929 another Pen¬
tecostal Church was built and opened in the vicinity of Lake Car¬
mel by Achie Williams and is known as the Gospel Lighthouse
Mission. Services were held regularly at both missions and are
still held at the Gospel Lighthouse Mission. The members attend¬
ing come from a wide area.

In 1938 the first Lutheran society in Putnam County was
organized at Brewster, its members coming from all of eastern
Putnam, southern Dutchess and northern Westchester. The min¬
ister of the Mt. Kisco Church has also served as pastor of Trinity
Lutheran at Brewster. Services were at first held in the Odd
Fellows’ Hall, but during the past two or three years have been
held in the Brewster Grange Hall. A building fund has been
started to erect a church.

About 1939 a Catholic Church was erected at the entrance to
the Lake Peekskill development in Putnam Valley to serve the
Catholics of that rapidly growing development as well as other
Catholics in the township. It is a part of the Yorktown parish in
Westchester.

908

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Philipstoivn Churches — The first church organization in Philips-
town is believed to have been St. Philip’s Episcopal, which was
associated with St. Peter’s in Peekskill. The charter was granted
in 1770. A chapel was built in 1766 at Garrison on the site of the
present stone church and was painted red. The next church to be
organized was the Methodist at North Highlands on the Albany
Post Road. The first church, a rude structure, is said to have
been built in 1811. It was repaired and improved in 1852 or 1854
and the present church was built in 1878 and dedicated in 1879.

In 1829 the first building of the South Highland Methodist
Church was erected near the junction of the road from Garrison
with the Albany Post Road on land purchased from Harry Garri¬
son. In 1865 the old church was moved and remodeled for a par¬
sonage and a second church erected on the same site. In 1906 the
present fine stone church was built on the site of the other two and
in 1907 a new parsonage erected. In 1867 the Union Chapel was
built and dedicated at Mekeel’s Corners, but services have not been
held in it for several years. One minister serves both the North
and South Highland Methodist churches. There was also a Metho¬
dist chapel near the railroad station at Garrison, but no services
have been held in it since 1930 and it was recently purchased by the
Garrison Fire Department and is used as a club room. It was
known as the Methodist Episcopal Church of Garrison and was
organized in 1852.

There is a tradition that the first religious meetings in the
earliest history of Cold Spring were held at the home of Thomas
Sutton in that village. It has been generally supposed that these
services were of the nature of cottage meetings consisting of
prayer and song.

The owners of the West Point Foundry were men of strong
religious convictions. Sensible to the spiritual needs and obliga¬
tions of the employees of that one-time famous plant for the manu¬
facture of guns for the Civil War, provision was made for a build¬
ing to be set apart for the exclusive worship of Almighty God. In
response to this urge, in 1825 the ardent wish for a definite place
for worship was realized and, as a result of it, appeals were circu¬
lated and subscriptions collected for the erection of a sanctuary free
for the use of those of the Protestant faith, and as the outcome of

PUTNAM COUNTY

909

a vigorous labor of love and much consecration of spirit a church
was constructed in 1826 and was used for several years as a Union
Church. This was a stone structure on the shore of the Hudson
near the point where the main street now crosses the railroad on
the overhead bridge known as Lunn Terrace.

This arrangement lasted until 1830, but as the existing reli¬
gious bodies using this building prospered the use of one build¬
ing had its logical disadvantages, as was to be expected, and each
denomination proceeded to erect its own house of worship. Thus
from a movement, small in numbers but strong in faith, the various
religious denominations of Cold Spring have been the outgrowth.

Rev. Ebenezer Cole, a traveling minister, organized a Baptist
Church about 1797 and services were held in the homes of mem¬
bers, that of Deacon Josiah Mekeel being the regular place of
worship for some years. This church was given up and in 1815
another Baptist society was organized and in 1830 built the church
now standing in Nelsonville. It was dedicated in 1831 and has
been enlarged since then.

The Presbyterian Church was organized December 28, 1828, by
a committee of the Presbytery of North River. Services were held
in the Union Chapel on the shore of the river until the erection of
the brick chapel on Academy Street in 1867, which has since been
used as the church.

In 1832 the Methodist society was organized and their first
church was erected in 1833. At that time Main Street ran north of
the church, but when the street was straightened, the front of the
church became the rear. This church and lot were sold in 1868
and the present church built on a new location on Main Street with
the parsonage nearby on a side street. The corner stone was laid
September 10, 1868, and it was dedicated June 16, 1870. The cost
was $40,000.

On Sunday, September 21, 1834, a church of Roman Catholic
faith was established in Cold Spring on the east bank of the Hud¬
son. It was a beautiful example of Tuscan architecture. About
1906 this edifice was closed and the present fine church was erected
in Fair Street and is still in use and known as Our Lady of Loretta
Roman Catholic Church. Many years ago St. Joseph’s Roman
Catholic Chapel was erected at Garrison and is a part of the Cold

9io

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK

Spring parish. Mass is conducted there by the priest at Cold
Spring, who also holds Mass at Manitou for Catholics in the south¬
ern part of Philipstown.

The parish of St. Mary’s Church in the Highlands (Episcopal)
was organized in 1840. The first church, built in 1841, stood on
the lower side of Main Street in a section where Mr. Palen’s drug
store now stands. It was used until 1869, when the need for a
larger church* became evident and the present handsome Gothic
stone structure was completed and consecrated in 1868. In 1873
the Sunday school chapel to the northwest was built by Mrs. Fred¬
erick P. James, in memory of her two sons. Mrs. James later mar¬
ried General Butterfield. The rectory connected to and south of
the chapel was built in 1916 with a legacy left in the will of Mrs.
Julia L. Butterfield. The entire cost of the buildings and grounds
was about $100,000. It is one of the most beautiful and complete
ecclesiastical establishments in the Hudson Valley. With its spa¬
cious lawns bordering on Main Street and Paulding Avenue and
the buildings to the rear with the highlands of the Hudson for a
background, it forms an exquisite and picturesque scene.

A Reformed Church was organized in Cold Spring, July 15,
1 85 5, by the Classis of Poughkeepsie. The church was built in the
fall of that year at a cost of $6,000. It had sixty members at one
time, but was without a pastor for some years and disbanded early
in the 1900s. The building was taken down about 1920 and on its
site the Butterfield Memorial Library was erected in 1925.

To return to St. Philip’s Church in the Highlands the writer
quotes from the history written by the rector, the Rev. E. Clowes
Chorley, in 1912, covering the period 1770 to 1911. He says it is
reasonable to assume that the chapel was built in 1771 and, if so, is
the second in age to Trinity Church in Fishkill as far as churches
in Dutchess County were concerned. It was built on one acre of
ground given by Beverly Robinson and was in serious danger of
confiscation with the rest of his estate after the war, but was finally
secured by the efforts of William Denning, who added another
acre. Tradition says that during the war the chapel was used as a
hospital and military prison. It was grievously damaged, the win¬
dows, sidings and floors were taken for use at West Point, nothing
remained except the frame and roof. After the war ended the

PUTNAM COUNTY

911

chapel was repaired, but it was some years before a clergyman could
be found. The small freeholders took the place of the territorial
magnate. The small farms had little capital and poor soil impov¬
erished by the war. It was further repaired in 1827 and 1835.
The chapel was thirty by thirty-six feet according to a measure¬
ment made by Frederick Philipse. In 1840 St. Philip’s became an
independent parish, the relationship with St. Peter’s of Peekskill
having been dissolved at that time. The first rectory was built in
1859. On May 1, 1862, the new church was consecrated. The
old chapel was removed to Manitou and reerected as the Chapel of
St. James in 1863. An organ was installed in 1895 and the parish
house built. In 1911 the present rectory was built, being the gift
of Mrs. Samuel Sloan and her children. About 1912 the parish
house was enlarged and improved through the generosity of Wil¬
liam Church Osborn.

Cemeteries — Closely associated with the churches of the county
are the cemeteries. While the Indians, who inhabited this section
before the white man arrived, had designated places of burial, these
lost their identity many years ago and like the Indians have passed
away, leaving only a memory perpetuated by historians.

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Full text of "Southeastern New York, a history of the counties of Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland and Putnam"

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